Data Gathering and Privacy Implications

• Facebook tags
• Enhanced 911 services
• Rewards or loyalty programs
• Body scanners
• RFID tags
• Implanted chips
• OnStar
• Automobile “black boxes”
• Medical records
• Digital video recorders
• Cookies and flash cookies

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Facebook Tags

• Tag: Label identifying a person in a photo

• Facebook allows users to tag people who are on
their list of friends
• About 100 million tags added per day in
Facebook
• Facebook uses facial recognition to suggest
name of friend appearing in photo
• Does this feature increase risk of improper
tagging?
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Enhanced 911 Services

• Cell phone providers in United States

required to track locations of active cell
phones to within 100 meters
• Allows emergency response teams to
reach people in distress
• What if this information is sold or shared?

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Rewards or Loyalty Programs

• Shoppers who belong to store’s rewards program

can save money on many of their purchases
• Computers use information about buying habits
to provide personalized service
– ShopRite computerized shopping carts with pop-up
ads
• Do card users pay less, or do non-users get
overcharged?

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Body Scanners

• Some department stores have 3-D body

scanners
• Computer can use this information to
recommend clothes
• Scans can also be used to produce
custom-made clothing

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Body Scanner Takes Measurements

AP Photo/Richard Drew

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RFID Tags

• RFID: Radio frequency identification

• An RFID tag is a tiny wireless transmitter
• Manufacturers are replacing bar codes with
RFID tags
– Contain more information
– Can be scanned more easily
• If tag cannot be removed or disabled, it
becomes a tracking device
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Implanted Chips

• Taiwan: Every domesticated dog must

have an implanted microchip
– Size of a grain of rice; implanted into ear
– Chip contains name, address of owner
– Allows lost dogs to be returned to owners
• RFID tags approved for use in humans
– Can be used to store medical information
– Can be used as a “debit card”
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OnStar

• OnStar manufactures communication

system incorporated into rear-view mirror
• Emergency, security, navigation, and
diagnostics services provided subscribers
• Two-way communication and GPS
• Automatic communication when airbags
deploy
• Service center can even disable gas pedal
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RFID Tags Speed Inventory Process

© Marc F. Henning / Alamy

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Automobile “Black Boxes”

• Modern automobiles come equipped with a

“black box”
• Maintains data for five seconds:
– Speed of car
– Amount of pressure being put on brake pedal
– Seat belt status
• After an accident, investigators can retrieve and
gather information from “black box”

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Medical Records

• Advantages of changing from paper-based

to electronic medical records
• Quicker and cheaper for information to be
shared among caregivers
– Lower medical costs
– Improve quality of medical care
• Once information in a database, more
difficult to control how it is disseminated
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Digital Video Recorders

• TiVo service allows subscribers to record

programs and watch them later
• TiVo collects detailed information about
viewing habits of its subscribers
• Data collected second by second, making
it valuable to advertisers and others
interested in knowing viewing habits

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Cookies

• Cookie: File placed on computer’s hard drive by

a Web server
• Contains information about visits to a Web site
• Allows Web sites to provide personalized
services
• Put on hard drive without user’s permission
• You can set Web browser to alert you to new
cookies or to block cookies entirely

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Flash Cookies

• Flash cookie: File placed on your computer’s hard drive

by a Web server running the Adobe Flash Player
• Flash cookie can hold 25 times as much information as a
browser cookie
• Flash cookies not controlled by browser’s privacy controls
• Some Web sites use flash cookies as a way of backing
up browser cookies. If you delete browser cookie, it can
be “respawned” from the flash cookie
• Half of 100 most popular Web sites use flash cookies

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5.4 Data Mining

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Data Mining Defined

• Searching records in one or more

databases, looking for patterns or
relationships
• Can be used to create profiles of
individuals
• Allows companies to build more personal
relationships with customers

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Google’s Personalized Search

• Secondary use: Information collected for

one purpose use for another purpose
• Google keeps track of your search queries
and Web pages you have visited
– It uses this information to infer your interests
and determine which pages to return
– Example: “bass” could refer to fishing or music
• Also used by retailers for direct marketing
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Secondary Uses of Information

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Collaborative Filtering

• Form of data mining

• Analyze information about preferences of
large number of people to predict what one
person may prefer
– Explicit method: people rank preferences
– Implicit method: keep track of purchases
• Used by online retailers and movie sites

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Ownership of Transaction Information

• Who controls transaction information?

– Buyer?
– Seller?
– Both?
• Opt-in: Consumer must explicitly give permission before
the organization can share info
• Opt-out: Organization can share info until consumer
explicitly forbid it
• Opt-in is a barrier for new businesses, so direct
marketing organizations prefer opt-out

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Credit Reports

• Example of how information about customers can

itself become a commodity
• Credit bureaus
– Keep track of an individual’s assets, debts, and history of
paying bills and repaying loans
– Sell credit reports to banks, credit card companies, and
other potential lenders
• System gives you more choices in where to borrow
money
• Poor credit can hurt employment prospects
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Credit Reports

• Example of how information about customers can

itself become a commodity
• Credit bureaus
– Keep track of an individual’s assets, debts, and history of
paying bills and repaying loans
– Sell credit reports to banks, credit card companies, and
other potential lenders
• System gives you more choices in where to borrow
money
• Poor credit can hurt employment prospects
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Targeted Direct Mail

• Businesses mail advertisements only to

those most likely to purchase products
• Experian and other companies provide
customized mailing lists
• Example: Target’s efforts to reach
pregnant women

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Microtargeting

• Political campaigns determine voters most likely

to support particular candidates
– Voter registration
– Voting frequency
– Consumer data
– GIS data
• Target direct mailings, emails, text messages,
home visits to most likely supporters

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Price Customization

• Data aggregation firms sell profiles of

shopper to on-line retailers
• Retailers use this information to offer
different prices to different people

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Social Network Analysis

• Collect information from social networks to

inform decisions
• Bharti Airtel (India) offers special promotions
to “influencers”
• Police use Facebook and Twitter posts to
deploy officers on big party nights
• Banks combine social network data with
credit reports to determine creditworthiness
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Police Monitor Facebook and Twitter
to Identify Locations of Big Parties

© Allen Sullivan/ZUMA Press/Newscom

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