The label ethical have always seemed very tricky to me. Not only because I tend to be innately confused, but also because of the complexity of the matter. The term, related with the morals of each individual, has necessarily a subjective connotation. However, there are certain issues that are universally accepted as non-ethical or, at least, controversial. In this occasion I would like to give my opinion about the privacy that we are almost all allowing to sacrifice, either consciously or not, in recent times. The reason? Internet. Cause and solution of many of the problems that contemporary western man has.
Is lack of privacy a contemporary issue?
Privacy has been a trending topic since our origins. It is not surprising that the underdeveloped primates that preceded us would have received the input of looking for a cave where they could shelter themselves and being able to be in a more personal, confidential place, somewhere even proto romantic (as romantic as a hominid could appreciate). Surprisingly for some, the right to privacy is historically a very recent concept firstly pointed out by Warren & Brandeis (1890). With the development of an established welfare state (always in the context of Western societies), social standards changed and privacy occupied a more important place in our lives. This is so to the point that online privacy is undoubtedly one of the issues that most concern and upset society, especially with cases such as the famous Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The compilation of personal data is currently a dangerous realty; thus, Big Data could be discussed as the concept of the century so far. All our movements seem to be annotated and the digital footprints we leave would highlight us in front of the most inept detective. But how does it deprive us of our right to confidentiality? Here are some examples:
- Geolocation: Did you hear about Google Location History? Isn’t it quite creepy to see all the places you have been located every single day?
- Speech: Mobiles phones, virtual assistants AI, etc. can hear your conversations,even when you are not using them, for advertising reasons.
- Everyday issues: With the consolidation of wearables technology, personal data such as the physical effort we do on our daily basis or the expenses we make can be collected, which would be an interesting data for insurance and banking companies to target each potential client. That could lead to a more accurate approach to some of them, but also to the exclusion of others.
From the point of view of the normal internet user, the above information can be worrisome and generally negative. The following video provides some more examples:
However, and here is the dilemma, the digital trail is extremely efficient for marketing executives. The use of collected data is a very important competitive advantage in nowadays markets, as it is a very effective way to make visible the value proposition offered to the targeted individual. In fact, according to a McKinsey research (Brown, Kanagasabai, Pant & Serpa Pinto, 2017), those organizations that leverage customer behavioural insights outperform peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% percent in gross margin. The numbers then suggest that the use of Big Data for commercial purposes is something that the industry cannot renounce. Nevertheless, according to a survey published in Hubspot (An, 2016), 91% of respondents think that personalized ad campaigns are becoming more and more intrusive. Furthermore, users are trying to avoid those ads craftily, as more than 419 million people have installed some kind of mobile ad-blocking software only on their smartphones (Willens, 2016). It seems that although the value of privacy is on the rise and more and more attempts are being made to limit what is shared, the use of Big Data is being commonly accepted and it will continue along this path.
How should we marketers deal with the dilemma?
In my opinion, marketers must solve the quandary by giving the consumer the power, or at least facilitate greater individual freedom. If consumers have more control over their profiles and the marketing channels in which they participate, that is, if they have full control over what they prefer to share, it would be vastly approved by the majority. José María Álvarez-Pallete, chairman of Telefónica and one of the most influential CEOs in the world, shares this desire. He has already appealed to the responsibility of the industry and society to use data in an ethical, transparent way (Álvarez-Pallete, 2019). He also demanded a new Digital Bill of Rights that lays down fundamental rights in a digital future for all citizens (Lomas, 2018).
In the new data economy, people need to trust how personal data is being used and have control over the data they generate. That is the most ethical way to maintain a way of doing business that is highly profitable and even vital for many companies to keep going (Marr, 2016). I believe that the implementation of ethical patterns (translating this as the attainment of more personal rights and translucency) is fundamental in a digital world that, because it is so new, is not yet as regulated as it should.
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References:
Álvarez-Pallete, J.M. [Telefónica]. (2019, February 25). Welcome speech #MWC19 with José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman and CEO of @telefonica [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0i6Z5FLKIE.
An, M. (2016). Why People Block Ads (And What It Means for Marketers and Advertisers). Hubspot. Retrieved from: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-people-block-ads-and-what-it-means-for-marketers-and-advertisers?utm_campaign=SOI%202016&utm_source=Partner&__hstc=206398028.18c3aba9c09b2cf5403ed68c160f636d.1580514916613.1580514916613.1580514916613.1&__hssc=206398028.1.1580514916614&__hsfp=2704529548.
Brown, Kanagasabai, Pant & Serpa Pinto (2017). Capturing value from your customer data. McKinsey. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/capturing-value-from-your-customer-data.
Lomas, N. (2018). 5G needs a “new mindset” towards Internet rules, telcos warn. TechCrunch. Retrieved from: https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/5g-needs-a-new-mindset-towards-internet-rules-telcos-warn/.
Marr, B. (2016). Big Data Facts: How Many Companies Are Really Making Money From Their Data? Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/01/13/big-data-60-of-companies-are-making-money-from-it-are-you/#62f20f7f2d8f.
Osborne, H. (2018). What is Cambridge Analytica? The firm at the centre of Facebook’s data breach. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/18/what-is-cambridge-analytica-firm-at-centre-of-facebook-data-breach.
Pettit, H. (2018). It’s not paranoia, your phone really IS listening to EVERYTHING you say and using your private conversations to target ads, security expert warns. Daily Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5816269/Its-not-paranoia-phone-really-listening-you.html.
Warren, S.D, Brandeis, L.D. (1890). The Right to Privacy. Harvard Law Review, Vol. 4, No. 5. (Dec. 15, 1890), pp. 193-220.
Willens, M. (2016). Alibaba Fuels Massive Rise in Mobile Ad Blocking in Asia; Could The US Be Next? IB Times. Retrieved from: https://www.ibtimes.com/alibaba-fuels-massive-rise-mobile-ad-blocking-asia-could-us-be-next-2376144.
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Cesar MarKtin 