The Business and Social sectors

Marketing and Personalization

Marketing is an essential task for many businesses and organizations. Marketing is used as one of the
biggest source to promote personal information by businesses, political parties, non-profit organization
groups and advocacy groups. It includes finding new customers, members or voters and encouraging old
ones to continue. Throughout the 20th century, businesses used to send catalogues and advertisements based
on a few criteria (age, gender, neighborhood).
Target Marketing:
A specific group of potential consumers that a business aims to reach is called target marketing.
Computers and the increased storage capacity of 1980s and 1990s began a revolution in target marketing.
Now businesses store and analyze terabytes of data that has information regarding consumer purchases,
financial activity, online activity, opinions, preferences and government records. This data is used to
determine who might be a new customer and what new product an old customer may buy.

The issue is informed consent

Technological and social change makes people uncomfortable although it does not mean that it is
unethical. It should be clear that target marketing is not unethical at all. The legitimate concern arises from
the fact that how marketers get the data, that they use.
When someone gives his or her consent, the person actually has no idea how extensive a company is and
how far the data can actually travel. Firms such as Acxiom , a large international database and direct-
marketing company, collect personal data from a huge number of online and offline sources. Such
companies that maintain huge consumer databases buy others, combining data to build more detailed
databases and dossiers.
• They sell this data and consumer profiles to businesses for marketing and “customer management”.
• Extensive and hidden tracking of online activity led to calls for a “Do Not Track”.
• The idea is that users would have one clear place to indicate that they do not want their Web activity
tracked and stored.

Paying for consumer information

• When businesses first began building extensive consumer databases, some privacy advocates argued
that they should pay consumers for use of their information.
• In many circumstances, they actually did pay consumers indirectly.
• Example is , if we fill out a contest entry form, we trade data for the opportunity to win prizes.
• Discounts are given to shoppers who use cards that enables tracking of their purchases.
• Privacy advocates criticize such programs.
• Lauren Weinstein, founder of Privacy Forum, argues that among less affluent people the attraction of
free services may be especially strong, and it coerces or persuades them into giving up their privacy.
• People do not understand all the potential uses of their information and the long-term consequences
of the agreements.
• On the other hand, such programs offer an opportunity for people with little money to trade off
something of little value (information) for goods and services they desire.
Our Social and personal activity
Social Networks
What we do?
 We post different opinions
 We gossip
 Share pictures
 We post statuses that we are away from home.
What they do?
 New services with unexpected privacy settings. Facebook’s example.
 Different changes have different impacts on people.
 Angry members are not good for business.
 Careful thought must be given before an implementation of a certain setting.
 Some people might be happy if their friends tag them in photos but might be uneasy if an automated
system tags them in every photo they appear in.
 A range of options is suitable. This includes informing the person of the tag, allowing removal of the
tag, and requesting permission of each tag.

Location Tracking
GPS, cell phones and other technologies enable a variety of location based applications. They give
detailed information about our current locations and our past movements.
Pros
Worldwide Accessibility: GPS services are provided across the globe.
Independent Operation: It does not need users to submit data from their devices
Cons
Battery dependent: A GPS tracking enabled gadget depletes the battery’s power.
Law enforcement agency tracking: They can locate someone by locating their phone.

Tools for parents

• Many technologies may help parents keep a track of their location.
• Devices installed in a car may tell parents where their children are and how fast they are driving.
• A company may sell wireless watch band transmitters for children so their parents may monitor
them.
• A monitoring system that sends easily read or easily intercepted signals could decrease rather than
increase the safety of a child.
• Identity thieves could collect personal data.
• A child might lose a phone or leave a tagged article of clothing somewhere.

A right to be forgotten
• People sometimes want to remove information about themselves.
• Example could be of taking off those comments that they made in anger, a photo on one’s social
network page.
 • Negative right (a liberty): It could mean that we may choose to stay off the Internet and become a
recluse, but we cannot force someone else to remove a photo that we are in.
• As a positive right (a claim right): It is akin to requiring that others erase their minds, as well as their
photos, blogs, and links. It can mean that others may not write about a person or exchange specified
information about the person. This can infringe freedom of speech.

Government systems Databases

Federal and local government agencies maintain thousands of databases containing personal information.
Examples include tax, property ownership, medical, travel, divorce, voter registration, bankruptcy, and
arrest records.
• It also includes government grant and loan programs, professional trade licenses, school records.
• Government databases help government agencies perform their functions, determine eligibility for
government benefits programs, detect fraud in government programs, collect taxes, and catch people
who are breaking laws.
• The scope of government activities is enormous, ranging from catching violent criminals to licensing
flower arrangers.
• The use and misuse of personal data by government agencies pose special threats to liberty and
personal privacy.
• It seems reasonable to expect governments to meet an especially high standard for privacy protection
and adherence to their rules.
• The Privacy Act of 1974 is the main law about the federal government’s use of personal data.

Provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974

• Restricts the data in federal government records to what is “relevant and necessary” to the legal
purpose for which the government collects it .
• Requires federal agencies to publish a notice of their record systems in the Federal Register so that
the public may learn about what databases exist .
• Allows people to access their records and correct inaccurate information .
• Requires procedures to protect the security of the information in databases.
Prohibits disclosure of information about a person without his or her consent (with several exceptions)

Database Example: College based students

The U.S. Department of Education proposed establishing a database to contain the records of every student
enrolled in a college or university in the United States. The proposal would require colleges and universities
to provide and regularly update the records including each student’s name, gender, Social Security number,
major, courses taken, courses passed, degrees, loans, and scholarships (public and private). The government
would keep the data indefinitely ‫غیر معینہ مدت تک‬. It is not yet implemented.
Pros:
• The database would help evaluate federal student aid program and perhaps lead to improvements in
the programs.
• The database would provide more accurate data on graduation rates and on actual college costs.
 • The ability to track the number of future nurses, engineers, teachers, and so on, in the educational
pipeline can help shape better immigration policy and business and economic planning.
Cons:
• It is very likely that the government would find new uses for the data that are not part of the original
proposal.
• Such a database could be an ideal target for identity thieves. (leaks)
• There is potential for abuse by staff members who maintain the data; for example, someone might
release college records of a political candidate

Publics records
Access vs Privacy
Government maintains records that are available to general public. Examples include bankruptcy records,
arrest records, marriage license applications, divorce proceedings, property ownership records, salaries of
government employees and will. Lawyers, private investigators, journalists, real estate brokers, neighbors,
and others use the records. Public records also include sensitive information such as birth dates, social
security numbers and home addresses.
Maricopa County in Arizona, the first county to put numerous and complete public records on the
Web, had the highest rate of identity theft in the United States. Sensitive information should be withheld
from public websites. A few have adopted policies to block display of sensitive data in files posted online,
and some states have laws requiring it. Several software companies produced software for this purpose,
using a variety of techniques to search documents for sensitive data and protect them.

National ID systems
Social security numbers
• The social security administration assigns nine digits social security numbers (SSNs) to the U.S
citizens, permanent residents and eligible non immigrant workers in the United States.
• We use our Social Security number for identification for credit, financial services, and numerous
other services, yet its insecurity compromises our privacy and exposes us to fraud and identity theft.
• Someone who has an SSN of another can get access to work and earning history of another, credit
report, driving record and other personal data.
• A new national ID would require citizenship, employment, health, tax, financial data and biometric
information (fingerprints) as well.
• Benefits : They will be harder to forge, one has to carry only one card for various services, identity’s
authentication will help reduce frauds both in private credit card transactions and in government
benefit programs.
• Disadvantages: Entire information will be available on one card so the threat to freedom and privacy
increases.

Encryption
Encryption is a technology, often implemented in software, that transforms data into a form that is
meaningless to anyone who might intercept or view it. The data could be email, business plans, credit card
numbers, images, medical records, cellphone location history, and so on. Many privacy and security
professionals view encryption as the most important technical method for ensuring the privacy of messages
and data sent through computer networks. Encryption also protects stored information from intruders and
abuses by employees. It is the best protection for data on laptops and other small data storage devices carried
outside an office

Policies for protecting personal data

 The businesses, organizations, and government agencies that collect and store personal data have an
ethical responsibility (and in many cases a legal one) to protect it from misuse.
 Responsible data holders must anticipate risks and prepare for them.
 They must continually update security policies to cover new technologies and new potential threats.
 Employers must train those who carry around personal data about the risks and proper security measures.
 A well-designed database for sensitive information includes several features to protect against leaks,
intruders, and unauthorized employee access.
 Each person with authorized access to the system should have a unique identifier and a password.

Contrasting viewpoints on privacy

Free Market View
A free market view basically emphasizes a freedom of contract. Organizations (businesses)
collecting personal information should make it clear if they will keep the information confidential or not.
They should be responsible if any information leak takes place. People should be free to enter agreements to
disclose personal information in exchange for a fee, services, or other benefits according to their own
judgment.
Free Market View sees privacy as a “good,” both in the sense that it is desirable and that it is
something we can obtain varying amounts of, by buying or trading in the economy, like food, entertainment,
and safety.

Consumer protection view

Advocates(supporter) of strong privacy regulation ‫ قاعدہ‬emphasize use of unsettling ‫ان کن‬S‫ پریش‬personal
information. They argue for more strict consent requirements, legal restrictions on consumer profiling,
prohibitions on certain types of contracts or agreements to disclose data, and prohibitions on businesses
collecting or storing certain kinds of data.
 The law require companies to have opt-in policies for secondary uses of personal information,
because the opt-out option might not be obvious or easy enough for consumers who would prefer it.
 The focus is to save consumers from their own carelessness by businesses and against their own lack
of knowledge, judgements or interests.
 Consumer protection view’s protects consumers against abuses and carelessness of businesses and
against their own lack of knowledge, judgement or interest.