Tag Archives: Privacy

December 2, 2014 · 11:20 am

An Extra Serving Of Data

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. While you were cooking or trying to fight the traffic and weather to get to Aunt Sally’s, Twitter was busy deciding to help themselves to your data. I kid you not. This was how they put it:

twitter fail image

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To help build a more personal Twitter experience for you, we are collecting and occasionally updating the list of apps installed on your mobile device so we can deliver tailored content that you might be interested in. If you’re not interested in a tailored experience you can adjust your preferences at any time (read below). Additionally, if you have previously opted out of interest-based ads by turning on “Limit Ad Tracking” on your iOS device or by adjusting your Android device settings to “Opt out of interest-based ads,” we will not collect your apps unless you adjust your device settings.

Generally, Twitter has been pretty good about explaining how they invade your privacy.  When you think about it you probably realize that Twitter analyzes your tweets, retweets, location, and the people you follow to figure out which “Promoted Tweets” (a.k.a. ads) to show you.  Hopefully you know that all those little “tweet this” buttons around the web gather information about you as well.  OK, maybe it’s not exactly personally identifiable information, but I think we all know it’s not critically important for ad targeting to have your name.  Knowing that you are you (a unique identifier) across devices and services means someone knows a hell of a lot more about you than you might want them to know.  Adding one more bit of data – your name – is not difficult.

For example.  Do you want Twitter knowing you installed a dating app?  Do you want them serving ads on your timeline based on the dating app?  How about ads on your phone or computer outside of the Twitter environment?  It’s coming.  Just as Facebook, which gathers the same data (oh, you didn’t know?) is getting to the same place.

To Twitter’s credit, the page I linked above explains how to opt out of this data theft.  But why not make it opt-in?  I realize that a personalized web and mobile ad experience can be better for some folks and delivers much better results for the marketer, but someone needs to take a step back before they help themselves to another serving of my personal data.  It makes me sad and uncomfortable that we’re still having this discussion.  You?

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November 13, 2014 · 12:33 pm

We’re Feeling Insecure

The Pew folks are at it again. They just released a study called “Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era” and it’s a doozy. Let’s not bury the lede:

Perhaps most striking is Americans’ lack of confidence that they have control over their personal information. That pervasive concern applies to everyday communications channels and to the collectors of their information—both in the government and in corporations.

Big Brother indeed, although Orwell probably didn’t think about it in terms of corporations doing much of the surveillance.  The study makes clear that consumers are skeptical about some of the benefits of personal data sharing, but are willing to make tradeoffs in certain circumstances when their sharing of information provides access to free services. 55% “agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement: “I am willing to share some information about myself with companies in order to use online services for free.” And we know they’re watching:

Across the board, there is a universal lack of confidence among adults in the security of everyday communications channels—particularly when it comes to the use of online tools. Across six different methods of mediated communication, there is not one mode through which a majority of the American public feels “very secure” when sharing private information with another trusted person or organization.

Sad, isn’t it?  More importantly, there seems to be a growing sentiment among consumers to dial back the amount of information they’re making available.  I’ve written before about ad and cookie blocking.  How can the legitimate interests some businesses have for this information – to me that means to make the consumer’s experience better – be served while protecting the consumer’s privacy?  Clearly all of us engaged in data-gathering need to begin to act more responsibly or risk being cut off from the source.  As the report says:

At the same time that Americans express these broad sensitivities toward various kinds of information, they are actively engaged in negotiating the benefits and risks of sharing this data in their daily interactions with friends, family, co-workers, businesses and government.

This is a wake up call.  Are you answering?

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June 9, 2014 · 10:54 am

Your Freezer Is A Rat

Let’s go to the land of creepy this morning.  A couple of things have come out over the last month which transported me there and I thought I’d invite you along for the ride.

Refridgerator with character

(Photo credit: magnetbox)

The first is a study from the folks at IDC Retail Insights and the second comes from TRUSTe.  Both deal with a topic we’ve discussed here in the screed from time to time: data and privacy.

How would you feel about your freezer ratting you out to your doctor about your nightly three scoops of ice cream?  It’s a possibility, you know.  As the “Internet Of Things” becomes a reality, the same smart appliance that lets you know the ice cream is nearly empty and which adds it to your digital shopping list can also report in the frequency and rate of the product’s depletion.  To whom?  Your doctor, your insurance company, or to anyone else that buys the data.  That makes me uncomfortable (not that I eat ice cream any more) and apparently I’m not alone:

When researchers told the survey respondents that their Web-enabled devices could collect data, the vast majority — 87% — said they were concerned about the type of personal information gathered. Almost the same proportion — 85% — said they would want to know more about data collection before using “smart” devices… Just 14% were comfortable sharing such information with ad companies, while only 19% felt okay about allowing market researchers to access the data.

That’s from the Media Post report on the TRUSTe study.  I believe that many companies entering this space are of the “ask for forgiveness” mindset instead of the “get their permission.”  That’s unfortunate and might lead to some nasty backlash, as the IDC study found:

According to the survey results, and contrary to popular belief, only a minority of consumers are openly disposed to the “give to get” exchange of private information for guidance dependent on a retailer having access to such information – 14% are privacy spenders and 15% are open guidance seekers… Shoppers split about equally into two groups, those who choose privacy over relevancy and those who prefer relevancy over privacy, 53% to 47%. But by nearly a two-to-one margin, 62% to 38%, more consumers believe that they do not have enough control over their privacy in the hands of the retailers they shop.

So while the advantages of the technology, both for consumers and for businesses, are evolving, I’m of the opinion that a strong statement about privacy needs to come from the folks who are pulling together these collection devices.  We’ve seen the FTC cite Google, Facebook, and others for gathering data without permission and consumers are even more attuned to the practice now than they were years ago.  Why not get better data in the open instead of asking our appliances to rat us out without our permission?  Thoughts?

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