Privacy and Social Networks

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Data Use

As technology allows for more and more tracking and analysis of our online behavior, ethical issues surrounding the purposes and usage of the data arise. Dilemmas concerning whether this data is collected, for which purposes, and what exactly is being done with it must be addressed. The digital footprints we leave are picked up, stored, and sometimes even analyzed, by Web companies. Companies today are collecting bits and pieces of information about peoples' preferences and tastes. Overall, they collect an enormous amount of data. In 2007, a research company called ComScore made a novel attempt to demonstrate the vast amount of data available for companies to collect. They created a model, which enumerated how many times and where exactly can Web companies collect data about their users (Story 2008).

FIGURE 1

This data is interesting not because of the exact numbers or company names, but rather because it presents a general trend. It is reasonable to assume that this trend has continued growing and is persistent today: more and more information is being collected about users and the kind of information obtained is increasingly private and/or sensitive. "When you start to get into the details, it's scarier than you might suspect. We're recording preferences, hopes, worries and fears" says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group, to NY Times writer Story (Story 2008). Today, with the expansion social networks and other types of information-sharing platforms online, it is horrifying to consider the amount of private information a Web company has.

What is this data used for? Targeted advertising is one example; more often than not, companies use the collected data to make predictions about what kind of products a customer is are most likely to buy and use that information to charge a high price for ads. Why have consumers not complained about this yet? Privacy experts claim this is because the general public is not aware of the collection process (Story 2008).

But when asked directly, the users probably have a different opinion: in a study conducted in 2007, in Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California at Berkeley, 85 percent of adults thought that websites shouldn't be allowed to collect information about users or track their behavior for targeted advertising (Story 2008).

Web companies, on the other hand, claim that the data collection is a benefit for consumers since they can change and adapt their products to consumer preference and they claim they have policies that protect people's personal information. In addition, one may claim that: "in a sense, consumers "pay" for free content and features like e-mail by letting companies collect this data about them" (Story 2008). These are strong claims that point to the enhancement of users' experience online as a result.

These changes also affect markets and industries: since people "pay" with information about themselves on the Internet, rather than with dollars, regulators should consider consumer data when they consider mergers. For example, if Yahoo or another company were to merge with another, the resulting corporation would have significantly more data about consumers than either of the original entities (Story 2008). The question of user interest is whether these possible merges or changes would result in higher quality, lower cost, or more varied online services.

Resources:

New York Times Figure
Blog on Data Tracking
European Study on Behavioral Targeting
CNet Article on Targeted Advertising
New York Times Article