Data, Dignity, Privacy and Vlad the Impaler
David Vladeck, the new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection has a mission: to redefine how the Commission looked at online privacy. Combine that statement with his description of online tracking as “Orwellian” and you should get an idea of the potential impact he could have on Internet Marketing.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Mr Vladeck went on to say that the debate is no longer about “monetary harm”, but whether a company violates a consumers’ “personal dignity”. Nor does he seem to trust people to protect his own dignity, as he is suggesting sites ask consumers to opt-in every time they visit the site.
Visions of pop-up check boxes dance before my eyes.
Not that we shouldn’t have seen the warning signs. In February there was the FTC’s report that politely, but very clearly, asked the industry to make sure “web sites provide clear and prominent notice regarding behavioral targeting” and advised the industry to begin designing “creative and effective disclosure mechanisms”.
The FTC didn’t describe their vision for those creative mechanisms however it would be stupid to assume the continued reliance on endless Privacy Policies and opt-in boxes was part of their vision.
However, unlike Mr Vladeck, the FTC report did this while steering clear of stating concerns about first party and contextual advertising, places he sees potential “dignity interest” concerns.
Our promises to police ourselves look empty in hindsight. We, the technocrats count the online shopping numbers, uploaded photos and videos, and then minimize consumer concerns. There can’t really be consumers who would let a brand’s data collection stop them from making a purchase?
But consumer misconceptions about tracking abound and are fueled by rumor and real mistakes such as Sears’ recent debacle. (They were tracking individual’s financial records, online prescription and video rental data and send, recipient and subject lines of emails while telling consumers they were only tracking their “online browsing”.)
The real fear is of course that some very ill person will hack a major brand’s database and something truly terrible and all too newsworthy will happen.
Before that occurs we need to come up with a real plan for getting consumers invested in online tracking. We need them to see it as a benefit and convenience and treat them with dignity. Give consumers access to what we track about them. Make their records transparent to them. Let them change them at any time, with clear warnings of the values they lose.
