The problem: consumers don’t really know what’s going on with all of the data captured about them. Nobody really reads disclosure statements (do you?).  In fact, she commented that when you see a disclosure in ALL CAPS ITS BECAUSE THEY KNOW ITS HARDER, NOT EASIER, TO READ, THAT’S WHY. 

A lot of information is derived information, marketers trying to figure out what type of person you are by what you have done on line.  But when companies start to sell that data, the consumer really loses touch with what is known about them, who knows it, and what the heck they’re doing with it.  The argument here is that consumers should have the right to this profile of information that is being assembled about them.

As a former banker, this is what happen to credit reports.  Banks were making important loan decisions based upon data that you might not have been aware of – and of course it might be wrong.  Nowadays you can request a free report from Equifax, et al, dispute incorrect information, and so on.  (You just can’t delete the bad stuff.)

Is it possible to similarly motivate consumers to insist on seeing the internet-related information that has been collected about them?

This is really a question for you – this is what Esther was asking – are you worried about this issue? Please leave a comment.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 9:32 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.