The Great Privacy Awakening

The consumer privacy awakening has begun. Slowly but surely, individuals are realizing that what they thought was privacy, is not actually what the data protection and privacy laws are out to protect. They are beginning to see the complex “surveillance system” that profiles them on a constant basis and trades openly to “sell them more stuff”. They are beginning to ask questions like “Why does Messenger need to know my health information?” and “Why does Tim Horton’s need to know where I vacation?”.

Personal information is almost always collected for a specific reason. And for the most part the reason is commercial – those who collect it under the guise of offering a free service to the community, turn around and sell it to the highest bidder. In order to do that, they have to share much of it with hundreds or even thousands of companies who might be interested in bidding! For years we have heard about the “free” online services of companies like Facebook and Google and have refused to really examine the ugly part of their business models. When we see the terms “online” and “free” we should think “waterfront property in Florida” – nothing is free. A price is always extracted whether we are aware of it or not.

In May 2018 the EU passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legally giving people the right to privacy online. Cambridge Analytica revealed how they use many of these “data-points” to form a profile in order to manipulate your vote. If they could not switch it, they suppressed it using micro-targeting based on extreme online surveillance of your preferences, likes and actions (or non-actions). More TRANSPARENCY has given rise to objections. The more people learned what was really going on, the more they objected – when given the opportunity. In the past, most marketers never give the consumer that option. That is changing.

The US business community operates like this “everyday abuse of personal data” is happening everywhere except in the US but recent numbers reveal a very interesting trend. Apple introduce CHOICE to all Apps in the App Store. Consumers could easily say YES or NO to being tracked. No confusing “legal double-speak” buried in a complex Privacy Policy or Terms of Use statements – just a plain unambiguous question. Globally, only 26% of those given the option elected to be tracked. In the US that number was single digit (6%). So the American consumer is waking up to what is really going on and they welcome TRANSPARENCY and CHOICE – authentic CHOICE written in plain understandable language rathe than the legalese we have been used to in Privacy Policies and Terms and Conditions. Now marketers will have to wake up as well.

Up until now Marketers have been…

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