privacy | In the crowds

Carrier IQ: Enemy or Impetus to Solve the Privacy Dilemma?

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Coreen

I know we’ve talked about privacy here before, but a lot has been going on this past week, so I thought maybe we should talk about it again.

Privacy certainly isn’t a new issue (for an informative introduction, read Privacy Control of Growing Importance to User Experience), but it’s an important one. And things seem to be getting worse rather than better.

That could be a good thing.

For a while, we’ve been consoled by the premise that much of our information out there is treated as anonymous data. But now, we’re learning that anonymous doesn’t really mean what we thought it meant.

Anonymous data usually includes general details from your browsing history and location data. No personal identifying information (such as birth date or contact info) is attached to it. For example, apps that you have on your smart phone or tablet use location data to forecast traffic congestion, offer up weather forecasts, suggest restaurants, and more.

The problem is that the trail of data you leave on the Web while shopping, browsing, and interacting on social networks can easily be examined and traced to your real identity.

So, in the wrong hands this could put you at risk.

Last week, news about Carrier IQ tracking of all activity on many smartphones spread like wildfire in gusty Santa Ana winds. Wiretapping suits have been filed. Many people are upset and yelling for changes.

This, again, is a good thing.

Carrier IQ may or may not be the scandal it seems. (Read why not here.) In my opinion, however, Carrier IQ is not the issue we should be talking about.

It’s time we all talk about solutions.

Crowdsourcing just may be the answer. Obviously, with the prolific use of laptops, tablets and smartphones, immense data tracking and recording is taking place. It’s the nature of the technology.

Also obvious is the need to step up protection of every user’s privacy. We don’t want to give up our devices, but we don’t want to completely sacrifice our privacy either.

Who better to ask about possible solutions than the users themselves?

What information are we willing to sacrifice (as a whole)? And what details need to be kept private and secure at all costs? How do we keep convenient features that rely on tracking but still feel secure?

The next great innovative company will be the one that solves these privacy problems. With the advances in technology today, we know it can be done. We just need all the companies that profit from tracking and sharing this data to develop the will to solve it.

Your voice on this issue is the key to stirring up that will. So, please, use it to keep telling phone carriers, manufacturers, retailers, government and more what you want. At the very least, ask them what data they track and how the information is used and shared.

The conversation is already started. It’s now up to you, me and all of us to keep it rolling.

What’s So Wrong with Privacy in the Social Media Age?

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Coreen

My friend Zetah* who is not into social media at all asked me a question the other night.

Why would you post something online telling people you are on vacation?

Good question, I told her. Any of you guys want to explain to her why you post your vacation details online for all to see? Or why you post your kids photos on very public sites for pedophiles everywhere to copy and paste and drool over?

I know you are probably responsible people, loving parents, etc. It’s a good question though—do you think about privacy? Do you even care?

There are whole networks now based on just telling people where you are—single women are using them, celebrities are using them and even kids are using them. I can’t help but think that’s not a smart thing to do.

LinkedIn offers a TripIt app, which I’ve seen many prominent social media professionals use. I often wonder how their wives feel, with them advertising the man of the house will be away for the next few days. (Not that women can’t take care of themselves, I’m just saying, it’s a security thing.)

Don’t get me wrong. I love social media, but I also love my privacy and security, so there are some things I just don’t get.

We seem to be in this new era—or maybe just a technological limbo—in which privacy has been flung to the wayside. Social networks, advertisers and other businesses are pushing our limits to see how far we will let them go.

I’ve done a few posts on online advertising and the different ways users get tracked online. And my overall sense is that more and more people are okay with advertisers tracking them online. Why?

Isn’t that the equivalent of someone following us store by store through the mall?

We wouldn’t dare allow this behavior in public, yet why are we so accepting of a lack of privacy and even safety in our online lives?

Two possible answers

1. Being online for some people is like a sort of fame. People love the attention so they tend to overshare. And many times, everything turns out perfectly okay so most people feel pretty comfortable. But is this a false sense of security?

2. The consequences can be difficult to see. You see, you don’t know if someone is actually downloading pictures and videos that you post of your kids and using them for their own personal pleasure in some dark room somewhere. You probably don’t know someone who had embarrassing photos or information spread about him online and was ridiculed so badly that he killed himself, even though you’ve heard similar stories on the news. And, hopefully, no one has robbed your house while you’ve been on vacation or attacked your wife while you said you’d be away for three days.

Maybe you’re thinking that can’t happen to you, right?

As adults, I think we’re pretty confident, maybe too confident in our ability to protect ourselves online. But what about your kids?

I know many parents who do what they can to protect their kids online, but is it enough? Shouldn’t online entities—advertisers, social networks, etc.—bear some of the responsibility too?

For example, Facebook should have automatic privacy settings for anyone who creates an account who is under a certain age (like 16, 17 or 18). A social tool like Klout should not be able to create profiles of people, especially minors (see Is Klout Using Our Family to Violate Our Privacy?), without some sort of permission.

All I’m saying is there needs to be limits…for our own good. And there can be limits without ruining the social nature of social networks.

If people are comfortable sharing their whereabouts and their life’s details with everyone, that’s okay as long as it’s their choice. But the rest of us should still be able to protect our privacy online (and offline) as much as we desire.

Still not convinced?

If you’re my age, your parents probably told you when you were young not to take candy from strangers. Well check out Take This Lollipop and see how easy it is for strangers to get too close for comfort.

Something to think about.

If you want more info before you try it (and want some tips on staying safe online), read Steve Olenski’s Take This Lollipop – An Interactive Movie On The Dangers Of Facebook Stalkers.

And hey, let’s be careful out there.

**************

*Zetah is a fictional name used to protect my friend’s privacy and to protect her from any ridicule and embarrassment she might receive for not being on any online social network even though we are in the 21^st century. Of course, given the way things are headed, we might all be envying her pretty soon.

Social Targeting: Are Advertisers Being Smart or Stalking You?

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Coreen

“Social” has always had a positive connotation to it, but with social targeting, I’ll let you decide.

What is social targeting?

Social targeting is an advertising placement method used by online ad publishers that’s based on your conversations and interactions in the social media space.

Ad publishers use data such as your status updates, tweets, photos and other online actions to help determine your interests and, therefore, determine the relevance of potential ads targeting you.

Social targeting also looks at your connections and the strength of your connections across certain networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Advertisers assume that people you are strongly connected with will share similar interests and then will target them with similar ads.

How social targeting works: An example

You go to a brand’s website or Facebook page and buy a certain product, download something or sign up for a service. When your top friends (people you interact with most on your social networks) go online, they will see ads for the same products and services that you bought, downloaded or signed up for.

The idea is that, as Glen Calvert of Affectv says, “understanding what consumers are sharing, who the influencers are, and who they connected to, provides advertisers with an opportunity to reach consumers implicitly interested in their products, and discover new audiences based on their social connections.”

Creative or creepy?

Making ads more relevant obviously makes a ton of sense. However, as someone who values privacy, I still get creeped out by targeting methods that use planted cookies to track me.

My preference is still semantic targeting—the cookie-less form of online ad placement—which I’ve discussed here before, most recently in The Consumer-Friendly Wave of Digital Advertising.

If you’re not sure what semantic targeting is, read more of what I’ve said in Catch the Wave, the Third Wave of Digital Advertising.

But, I don’t want you to take my word for it. Let me know what you think. How do you feel about being tracked on the web and having that data being used by advertisers?

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