TOPIC 4: Ignorance is Bliss?

Often or not, when we sign up for a new social media platform, in our excitement, we do not bother with reading the lengthy user license agreements or terms and conditions. I myself, am guilty of doing so, impatiently clicking ‘I Agree’ to the terms and conditions without having an inkling of it. In fact, a survey revealed that only 7% of respondents actually fully read the terms and conditions when signing up for a new product or service (Smithers, 2011).

(Image by MDG Advertising)

From the above info-graphic, it is indeed appalling how ignorant the public is on issues like personal privacy on social media platforms like Facebook. Without reading the fine print, users are clueless about their rights and are inevitably subjected to the mercy of the company that they have supposedly ‘signed’ an agreement with. This has sparked countless of debates, among which, arguably the most controversial issue: data mining on social media platforms and its effects on our privacy.

Data Mining = Snooping on Us?

By blindly handing over our ‘agreement’, corporations are pouncing on the opportunity to access your personal information and contact. Insignificant actions that we might not think twice doing, such as adding a geotag on your Facebook posts, could lead to corporations trying to push you online advertisements that they deem most relevant to you.

For example, one might hashtag #JapanTravels repeatedly in his tweets while on a vacation. In the subsequent days, he might realize that the advertisements appearing on various social media platforms would be related to keywords like ‘Travel’ or ‘Japan’. By detecting repetition, artificial intelligence (AI) is able to compile a rough digital profile of a person. In this case, the AI would report that this person has interest in travel related or Japanese products and services. From there, the information could be sold to other corporations which will utilize the data to market their products or services to what they assume you would be interested in.

(Video by Reputation911 – Youtube)

Effects on Privacy and Discrimination

You might wonder, how is data mining a negative thing when I am able to receive tailored updates on products and services targeted at your interests? As the above video depicts, information collected on a specific user could likely be wrong, which results in inaccurate profiling of consumers. Not only will a consumer start receiving spam advertisement that might not be relevant, but  the fact that their virtual self could be judged as undesirable is what worries people. Not only is it about reputation, having a negative ‘rating’ stuck to you could affect your credit rating and cause increased difficulty in getting any credit loans from banks, for one (White, 2012). Banks are also able to easily reveal the race, sexual orientation and even undesirable traits about a certain loan applicant – which would have remained undisclosed without the use of Big Data- and could refuse them loans based on non-monetary, discriminatory reasons (Herold, n.d.)

Data Mining: Is it ethical?

Privacy on social media is very much an oxymoron, with data mining being all the rage in the marketing sector. As marketers, we should exercise discretion in utilizing data mining results. We certainly cannot do without data mining, but what we can do to minimize its stigma is to be transparent and ethical in our practices.

References:

Herold, R. (N.d.). ’10 Big Data Analytics Privacy Problems’ Available from: https://www.secureworldexpo.com/10-big-data-analytics-privacy-problems
Smithers, R. (2011). ‘Terms and conditions: not reading the small print can mean big problems’ Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/may/11/terms-conditions-small-print-big-problems

White, M. (2012). ‘Big Data knows what you’re doing right now’ Available from: http://business.time.com/2012/07/31/big-data-knows-what-youre-doing-right-now/