Privacy is Not about Facebook Settings - David-Michel Davies

Privacy The most over reported under explained issue of our time There were so many press articles blog posts investigative pieces and sensationalist stories about privacy in 2012 that your eyes are probably glazing over right now having just seen the word twice in a sentence Fear not this isn39t about Facebook settings or spooky stories of teenagers being stalked It39s about the opportunity that exists for companies that make privacy and its sister opportunity big data a core strength of their organizationAt The Webbys we were so fascinated by the seemingly endless amount of news articles amp8211 978 million articles on Google News for quotprivacyquot versus just 151K for quotGangnam Stylequot as of this week amp8211 that we used the Autumn of 2012 to take a deep dive into what the fuss was all about Of course we already knew that Facebook users were upset about Beacon in 2009 and people were quotconcerned about their privacyquot but why amp8211 or what amp8211 is driving the concernWe read the articles and the research about new privacy regulations in Europe special quotinfidelityquot phones in Japan that are particularly adept at hiding secrets and of course the ones about Facebook Facebook and Facebook We then traveled the world visiting more than 100 Internet and media companies in 12 countries and 20 cities amp8211 from YouTube in Japan and The BBC in London to IDEO in San Francisco and Creative Arts Agency in Los Angeles to share our perspective and hear firsthand how the business and Internet community was handling the complexities of managing their customer39s personal informationHundreds of clicks and visits later we came to some simple conclusions The first is that by and large the public is absolutely in the dark about how their data is already being used and shared in both online and offline environments Few people realize that the everyday websites they visit amp8211 from The Weather Channel and dictionarycom to eBay and forbescom amp8211 buy and sell information about their activity to third parties in real time They are unaware that the Web they browse is actually being personalized for them in the milliseconds it takes to load a new Web page based on the street maps they queried or shoes they purchase online They certainly don39t realize that supermarkets have the ability to push productspecific ads to them on the Internet based on what they bought at the checkout counterThis massive gulf amp8211 the disparity that exists between how marketers now use technology to practice their craft and the public ignorance of those practices amp8211 is at the root the primary culprit of all those cases of people who feel quotcreeped outquot quotweirded outquot and quotuncomfortablequot when companies use their data in ways they didn39t expectIn fact our exploration of this issue indicates that surprising the customer whether that be a shopper reader of your blog downloader of your app member of your online community or Facebook friend with how their personal data is used is far more offensive than how aggressive or conservative the actual marketing tacticThe second equally important finding is that practically privacy is intertwined with the new world of Big Data On its own the type of things we all tend to share online amp8211 what flavor ice cream we like what we Google and what music we buy amp8211 is relatively innocuous But when you bring together big databases of consumer behavior great technology and enormous computation power all at very low cost marketers now glean quite a lot more from those small bits of trivial information Retail company Target can with 85 accuracy determine when someone is six months pregnant based on buying just a few products Capital One can make decisions on credit card offers based on the sites one has just browsed and its even said that financial services companies could figure out if you were being unfaithful based on where you spend your moneyHerein lies the opportunity for businesses big and small great organizations of the future will be those that are world class in the way they care for and leverage their customer data This means becoming expert at how data is collected analyzed leveraged for marketing and decisionmaking and most importantly how it is treated and cared for in your organization It is not enough to simply protect your customer39s information It is critical that it is used in ways that the customer expects and better yet benefits from greatlyDavidMichel Davies is the Executive Director of The Webby Awards and CoFounder of Internet Week NY and Netted by the WebbysDavid can be reached at dmdiadasnet The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet Established in 1996 during the Web39s infancy The Webbys is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences IADAS amp8212 a 1000 member judging body that includes Executive Members comprised of leading Web experts business figures luminaries visionaries and creative celebrities and Associate Members who are former Webby Award Winners and Nominees and other Internet professionals The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes members such as musician David Bowie Internet CoinventorVint Cerf Arianna Huffington President and EditorinChief of Huffington Post Media Group Twitter Cofounder Biz Stone Chairman and Founder of RGA Bob Greenberg CoFounder of Instagram Kevin Systrom Executive Creative Director at Google Lab Iain Tait Mozilla CEO and Chair Mitchell Baker Tumblr Founder David Karp and Roy L Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School Lawrence Lessig Reflecting the tremendous growth of the Internet as a tool for business and everyday lives the 17th Annual Webby Awards expands the mission of the Webby by honoring excellence in Websites Interactive Advertising ampamp Media Online Film ampamp Video Mobile ampamp App and is proud to introduce a new suite of categories for work in the Social Web Call for entries for the 17th Annual Webby Awards is now open at wwwwebbyawardscom

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Privacy is Not about Facebook Settings - David-Michel Davies

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