The opposition to giving consumers the right to opt out of the Big Data system is fierce. Advertisers fear - perhaps justifiably - that if they permit people to withdraw it will cause a cascading effect: the quality of their data samples could become skewed, thus less valuable and so many people might choose that option that their data samples will become too small and thus... less valuable.
It does not take much to imagine that, yes, this all comes back to profits for an industry strapped by the recession, the changing nature of consumer habits and lingering concerns about whether marketing budgets are effectively deployed.
So, what if instead of fighting every transparency initiative as if their next bonus depended on it, the industry instead looked at this as opportunity to make money two ways: one from selling the data as it does presently but second from selling the data to the individuals who want it? In effect making transparency a revenue generating customer service rather than a potentially costly source of litigation expense and aggravation.
Too naive or pie-in-the sky? Just remember when getting access to your personal credit report was a major battle. It can still be a hassle but the question of a citizen's right to that information is firmly established even if the credit reporting industry is accepting but remains sullenly unreconciled to the concept. The fact is that the loosening of the strictures the industry had imposed has taken some of the regulatory and legal heat off of the data gatherers.
History, the common law legacy of western tradition and momentum all suggest that consumers will eventually gain access to the information about them. They may even win the right to charge for it. The data being made available now is incomplete and may even be misleading, as the following article explains. But it is a logical first step in a chain that may enable the industry to own the solution to a growing controversy rather than suffer from its effects. JL
Kate Kaye reports in Advertising Age:
Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill has prodded the data industry to be more forthcoming about what it knows and how it operates. She's branded her mission "Reclaim Your Name."
The jury is out on whether it's a smart idea for data companies to expose what they know to curious consumers. But it looks like more firms that harvest, manage and analyze consumer information for marketing purposes will be joining data giant Acxiom in its recent data transparency move. Enliken, which aims to give consumers more privacy controls over the data the create and share with businesses, is set to launch a transparency platform for use by data companies and brands with consumer data.
Enliken CEO Marc Guldimann calls the software product "transparency as a service."
Similar to online tools from data providers such as BlueKai and Exelate, which show consumers what audience segments they are part of in marketing databases, the Enliken platform reveals demographic categories, shopping categories and other data. Interested consumers need only enter a mobile number or email address which then verifies via a subsequent text message or email that they are who they say they are.
Clients are in discussions to sign on to use Enliken's $1,000-per-month software, said Mr. Guldimann. While he would not name them, the demo site used to present the software before launch was branded with the Brilig logo. Brilig is a digital data provider owned by CRM consultancy Merkle.
The concept of providing people with a glimpse into what data companies collect and share about them came to the fore earlier this month when Acxiom launched AboutTheData.com. The site invites visitors to enter their names, addresses, and the last four digits of their social security numbers to access a portal that reveals the information the company has gathered on them. This includes age, estimated income, residence, ethnicity, marital status and which categories of product purchases -- from food to home furnishings -- a consumer has made via mail order.
Acxiom's is not the first initiative by the industry to show consumers what companies know (or think they know) about them. It is, however, ambitious in its accessibility, simplicity and undisguised pitch to consumers touting how data improves people's lives.
Acxiom and Enliken's recent offerings answer a call made by Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill, who has prodded the data industry to be more forthcoming about what it knows and how it operates. She's branded her mission "Reclaim Your Name."
While Ms. Brill called Acxiom's system "easy to use" and "intuitive," it and the other transparency tools provide only a limited view, masking the far deeper and more complex data labyrinthe existing beneath the exposed surface.
For instance, while a consumer could use these systems to learn that marketers peg her as someone who bought lawn and garden supplies and intends to purchase life insurance, these so-called transparency platforms obscure the data used to inform the categorizations. They don't show store transactions, website visits, social-media comments, loyalty-card usage and other information that is compiled by data firms to help them paint the "lawn and garden buyer" portrait.
"I don't think it's disingenuous for companies like Brilig and Exelate and Bluekai to say, 'Here's what we have,' because this is all they have," said Mr. Guldimann.
However, the Enliken platform will eventually enable consumers to view some of the often richer, proprietary CRM data a firm like Merkle or Acxiom might manage for its brand and retail clients. In such cases, entering a phone number or email address definitely would be necessary, said Mr. Guldimann.
"For example," he said, "if you went to General Motors and said, 'What do you know about me,' they would say, 'First prove that you are who you say you are by proving you own the email address or phone number we have associated with your profile.' "
For now, the Enliken system only shows segments associated with data gathered online
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