Monday, February 6, 2012
Facebook and Data Mining
This piece is a bit frightening. I wonder how many of you had to read 1984 when in high school. It does seem that Big Brother is watching. Personally, what concerns me is the re-use of these data. If only Facebook and Google have this sort of information, one might rely on their intense popularity as a means of assuring the data are not mis-applied. But other companies may not have the same incentive. The stereotyping and out and out discrimination are also rather frightening. Perhaps we should have some discussion of when it is appropriate for a vendor to use buyer characteristics as a way to price and when it isn't.
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I would be interested in discussing this more and learning more about where exactly is the line between right and wrong when it comes to profiling consumers to sell a firm's product. I don't know if it's a generational issue or what specifically but younger generations (even younger than the youngest person in our class) having grown up on the internet feel a need to post their lives online. For example, there was a recent incident in Chicago, where a group of high school-ers posted a video of them beating up one kid on Facebook and ended up getting arrested. There was also another recent incident where a group of kids robbed a store and posted pictures on their Facebook of them posing with loads of cash -- they too ended up getting caught, which wouldn't have happened otherwise. For most people, not born near the 2000's, it seems counter-intuitive to do a crime and post it online.
ReplyDeleteBut since all this information was voluntarily put out there and made available to the public (given that the uploader is aware of this), is there anything wrong in providing those consumers with products that better cater to their needs and preferences?