The battle between the customized web and protecting privacy

With the internet being such a vast expanse of information, there is a desire to customize the internet to the individual, to be able to quickly find or access what one is looking for. Companies want to drive perspective customers to their sites, and then to make it easy for them to spend money. These seem like worth while goals, but is the a cost to facilitating navigation through the web?
  

PII, Cookies, and Deep-packet Inspections, Oh my

To begin, let's define a few terms:

PII, or Personally Identifiable Information, is any information that can be used to distinguish a person's identity.
 More on PII on www.gsa.gov
 

A cookie is a piece of text that a web server can store on a user's hard disk. Cookies allow a Web site to store information on a user's machine and later retrieve it. The pieces of information are stored as name-value pairs.

 Article on cookies

Deep-packet Inspection - Through Internet service providers, companies are able to gather information on full extent of computer usage. Every site visited, every search, even every email sent can be harvested. This information is then used to profile a person’s interests, and then sold to advertisers to allow for targeted ads. Companies involved say that customers’ privacy is protected because no PII are released.

 Washington Post article on Deep-packet inspection

Companies Selling information on their Customers

Whether we are aware of it or not, many of the companies we do business with sell information on us.  Any information they have access to (items searched for, location, gender and so for) has the potential to be used or sold to a third party. Often on their site is a privacy policy outlining what they collect and how they use it and share it with other companies. With information passing between companies, how is that information safe guarded? How many customers take the time to educate themselves on these practices? If kept anonymous, at what point does this packaged information lead to a detail profile that can lead back to the user and therefore be view as PII? Do the companies with these practices have a clear way for their customers to opt out?

 Walmart's Privacy Policy

Insight from two Business owners

As part of my research I asked some business owners for their views of these practices. The following are their responses.

Adrian Dayton, founder of ClearView Social, Inc 

"1. Should people buy and sell this information? Absolutely. Not because it is creepy or weird, but because it helps us understands somebody's needs better. Take Facebook for example, through seeing what you look at, they can tailor adds to your liking. Contrast this with news sites that share with everyone the same article to help reduce belly fat. I have some belly fat, but certainly not enough to want to spend money to get rid of it. 

2. The limitations are pretty obvious in my opinion. Information must be anonymized. This is the only way to guarantee that you maintain the privacy of individuals.  This is the pact, we share our information and in exchange they keep in anonymous and sell us the things we have demonstrated we are interested in. 

3. There needs to be some disclosure and some way for consumers to opt out. There is something similar to this that exists right now, where you can disable cookies, but you can only take advantage of that if you are familiar with the way this data is collected and used. In my opinion there should be far better disclosure for all users of this information."

Drew Payne, owner of Payne Brothers Custom Knives

He started off his response by saying he would not sell information without the customers knowledge, he would not sell it period. He stated, "I don't want to loose a potential customer because word got around that I do that." He went on to say how he hates being inundated by spam email, junk mail, phone calls, or other forms of ads just because he has done business online. As a small business, in order to do much of the data collection, an outside company would have to be brought in for that. Just because they state that their databases are done by client ID and does not contain person information, it does not mean they do not come across that or that their information is not enough to create a profile to get that. Gathered or sold information finding it's way into the wrong hands can cause severe issues to his customers. He concluded by stating that, "I would suffer through being a new small business than to do that to someone."

Conclusion

Businesses that participate in ecommerce should make every effort to protect those who do business with them. There is much that can be done to protect personally identifiable information. Through search engines, prospective customers are able to shop around, not only for the best price and quality, but also for a business they are willing to trust. At a time when one mistake can kill a reputation and business, it becomes important to be transparent in dealings with customers. If a company is going to collect or sell information gathered from their costumers, they need to make sure that they clearly state what is collected, with whom and how it is shared, and how it is protected. 

Individuals should take the time to understand how and what information is being collected on them. When seeking the best deal, make sure that PII is not part of the cost. 

Becoming a Digital Citizen

In this ever developing computer age, it is important to recognize how technology has an effect upon us. We must be conscious of our digital footprint and how it may affect our daily life. We must understand our role as a citizen of this digital world. 

 

Just as when we walk on soft ground or sand leaves footprints, so also as we move through the internet we leave evidence of our presence. Each time we click like, post a comment or post, or we are leaving a trace of our digital presence. Each of these activities adds to our digital footprint. In the early 1600’s Francis Bacon wrote, “Knowledge is power.” Just as it was true back then, it rings true now. What power does our digital foot print give others? Does it give someone a reason to be at odds with us? Does it provide so much information to allow passwords to be profiled? Does it set a pattern that a predator or other criminal can use against us? Could it sway a possible employer for or against us? Knowing who can see our digital footprint and how it would reflect upon us, can empower us to make wise decisions when it comes to our online presence.

As we seek to continue our presence in the digital world, we become a part of the digital community. We should strive to be a digital citizen. Citizenship in a country guarantees certain rights and responsibilities. Several sites seek to define digital citizenship and the rights and responsibilities associated with it. One of these sites is Digitalcitizenship.net. In their article “Nine Elements,” they lay out nine themes of digital citizenship. A few of these themes are Digital Communication, Digital Literacy, and Digital Health & Wellness.

·         Digital Communication – Defined as the “electronic exchange of information.”

o   My family is spread across the country and at times we have been spread across the world. We needed a way to stay in contact with one another, and were able to do so through blogs, face book, and email.

·         Digital Literacy – the “process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.”

o   Technology must be embraced in what is taught and how it is taught. I am in school working toward an associate in Computer Information Systems. It will be a completely on line degree. With so much available, each Professor is able to embrace different technologies in presenting and structuring the courses.

o   “As we learn we learn to learn.” That was something I was fond of saying when I was younger. I have been working in the same department, but on different teams as my father for the past eleven years. His team is often seen as an escalation level for problems our team faces. On several occasions I have turned to him with issues. Rather than just handing me the answer, he would point me in the direction to find the answer.  In such a way he was able to teach me to use the technology available to not just find the answer to the issue I was having at the time, but to be able to use the same methods to resolve future issue.

·         Digital Health & Wellness – “physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world.”

o   I spend eight hours a day in front of computers at work. Ergonomic guidelines and technologies are available to reduce strain from computer work. These include things from height of the monitor to special keyboards. Employing these will provide lasting effects in the work place.