Is Your Personal Data Private? Is It Safe? Whenever you use a credit or debit card to buy something online, in a store,
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:14 pm
Is Your Personal Data Private? Is It Safe?
Whenever you use a credit or debit card to buy something online,
in a store, by mail, or over
the phone your purchase is recorded and stored in the retailer's
database (as well as in the
bank's database).
Analysing your purchasing patterns helps the companies develop
more appropriate offers and
more targeted communications. A
growing number of consumers worry, however, that the
names and numbers in these databases might be stolen
electronically or through the theft of
laptops or computer tapes. That is exactly what happened when
hackers broke into the
computer network of the parent company of retailer TJ Max and
stole more than 45 million
credit and debit card numbers.
Because of that theft, millions of consumers had their banks
cancel those cards and issue new
cards. Each year, millions of U.S. consumers fall victim to
identity theft, having credit card
numbers or other details stolen and used to make fraudulent
purchases. The government
estimates that $50 billion worth of goods, services, and funds
is stolen annually through identity
theft. With so much data being gathered and stored by so many
companies and government
agencies, security is an important concern. Sometimes consumers
are deceived into revealing
information in response to e-mails, letters, or phone calls that
appear to be legitimate but are
not.
Even when you are just clicking around the Internet, some sites
are collecting personal
information about you, and you may not even know it. Many
websites place cookies small data
files on your computer's hard drive to track your movement
around each site and to determine
which pages and items you looked at, how long you delayed, and
which links you clicked on.
The benefit gained from this tracking is that sites can
customize your online experience by
knowing what items you have searched for or looked at. At the
same time, your online
behaviour mav be tracked ov software that can determine which
ads vou will see based on the
sites you have visited. This situation worries privacy
advocates, who want firms to clearlv
disclose exactly what they are tracking and why and to get the
consumer's permission before
tracking.
The Center for Digital Democracy and other groups have been
pushing for a federal do not
track" list similar to the "do not call" list so that consumers
can opt out of online tracking.
Although many sites post privacy policies to explain their data
collection practices, consumers
may not always notice these policies or understand what the data
is being used for. Google, for
example, has addressed such concerns by changing its policy to
hold information about
searches conducted by consumers for 18 months and then to delete
those searches. Consumers
can also view their stored Google search data, edit out personal
details, and have all search
data erased, if they choose.
However, sometimes companies take actions that seem inconsistent
with their privacy policies.
For instance, the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly violated its
privacy policy by unintentionally
revealing the names of people who had signed up to receive
information from
its Prozac.com website. In response, the Federal Trade
Commission ordered Eli Lilly to set up
a system to protect customer data for the next 20 years and to
report every year on its security
processes.
The social networking site Facebook, where users post all kinds
of personal thoughts, photos,
videos, and more, has also had problems with privacy. Not long
ago, it launched an advertising
feature in which a user's actions such as scoring high on an
online game or buying a movie
ticket popped up on the user's page and on the merchant's site.
After an uproar from users and
privacy advocates, Facebook changed the feature so that such
actions would only be visible
when users specifically allowed them to be posted.
Case Ouestions
1. What would you recommend that TJ Maxx do to reassure shoppers
that their credit
and debit card data will be safe in the future?
2. From a marketer's perspective, what are the pros and cons of
complying with a "do
not track" list that would prevent you from collecting online
behavioural data about
the consumers who are listed?
3. If you were on the marketing staff of Facebook, how would you
address the concerns
expressed by privacy advocates?
Whenever you use a credit or debit card to buy something online,
in a store, by mail, or over
the phone your purchase is recorded and stored in the retailer's
database (as well as in the
bank's database).
Analysing your purchasing patterns helps the companies develop
more appropriate offers and
more targeted communications. A
growing number of consumers worry, however, that the
names and numbers in these databases might be stolen
electronically or through the theft of
laptops or computer tapes. That is exactly what happened when
hackers broke into the
computer network of the parent company of retailer TJ Max and
stole more than 45 million
credit and debit card numbers.
Because of that theft, millions of consumers had their banks
cancel those cards and issue new
cards. Each year, millions of U.S. consumers fall victim to
identity theft, having credit card
numbers or other details stolen and used to make fraudulent
purchases. The government
estimates that $50 billion worth of goods, services, and funds
is stolen annually through identity
theft. With so much data being gathered and stored by so many
companies and government
agencies, security is an important concern. Sometimes consumers
are deceived into revealing
information in response to e-mails, letters, or phone calls that
appear to be legitimate but are
not.
Even when you are just clicking around the Internet, some sites
are collecting personal
information about you, and you may not even know it. Many
websites place cookies small data
files on your computer's hard drive to track your movement
around each site and to determine
which pages and items you looked at, how long you delayed, and
which links you clicked on.
The benefit gained from this tracking is that sites can
customize your online experience by
knowing what items you have searched for or looked at. At the
same time, your online
behaviour mav be tracked ov software that can determine which
ads vou will see based on the
sites you have visited. This situation worries privacy
advocates, who want firms to clearlv
disclose exactly what they are tracking and why and to get the
consumer's permission before
tracking.
The Center for Digital Democracy and other groups have been
pushing for a federal do not
track" list similar to the "do not call" list so that consumers
can opt out of online tracking.
Although many sites post privacy policies to explain their data
collection practices, consumers
may not always notice these policies or understand what the data
is being used for. Google, for
example, has addressed such concerns by changing its policy to
hold information about
searches conducted by consumers for 18 months and then to delete
those searches. Consumers
can also view their stored Google search data, edit out personal
details, and have all search
data erased, if they choose.
However, sometimes companies take actions that seem inconsistent
with their privacy policies.
For instance, the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly violated its
privacy policy by unintentionally
revealing the names of people who had signed up to receive
information from
its Prozac.com website. In response, the Federal Trade
Commission ordered Eli Lilly to set up
a system to protect customer data for the next 20 years and to
report every year on its security
processes.
The social networking site Facebook, where users post all kinds
of personal thoughts, photos,
videos, and more, has also had problems with privacy. Not long
ago, it launched an advertising
feature in which a user's actions such as scoring high on an
online game or buying a movie
ticket popped up on the user's page and on the merchant's site.
After an uproar from users and
privacy advocates, Facebook changed the feature so that such
actions would only be visible
when users specifically allowed them to be posted.
Case Ouestions
1. What would you recommend that TJ Maxx do to reassure shoppers
that their credit
and debit card data will be safe in the future?
2. From a marketer's perspective, what are the pros and cons of
complying with a "do
not track" list that would prevent you from collecting online
behavioural data about
the consumers who are listed?
3. If you were on the marketing staff of Facebook, how would you
address the concerns
expressed by privacy advocates?