Reflective Post - Privacy

Privacy Online

McLean (1995) wrote

Privacy has always been important, but it has always been taken for granted. As a result, very few people have singled it out for attention. It did not seem worth it. This is changing. 

This was written over a decade ago and could not have been more accurate. With the influx in online activity; privacy has become an issue in its own right.  Before the twentieth century it differed according to class and culture; it was socially acceptable for a member of the upper class to meddle in the lives of the lower class, but severely frowned upon vice versa. (McLean 1995)

In terms of the studies surrounding the subject, this following paragraph sums up Privacy in relation to each academic discipline.

Philosophical approaches to the study of privacy have centered on the elucidation of the basic concept and the normative questions around whether privacy is a right, a good in itself, or an instrumental good. Economic approaches to the question have centered around the value, in economic terms, of privacy, both in its role in the information needed for efficient markets and in the value of information as a piece of property. Sociological approaches to the study of privacy have emphasized the ways in which the collection and use of personal information have reflected and reinforced the relations of power and influence between individuals, groups, and institutions within society. That there is such a multiplicity of legitimate intellectual approaches to the study of privacy suggests that no one discipline captures, or can capture, the richness and texture of its various nuances, and what appear at first to be very slight or subtle differences turn out to have deep implications in practice. (Waldo et al 2007)

As you can see the issue has been covered widely in recent years due to the increasing ease of invading ones privacy.

Through the years privacy has been increasingly compromised. Cast your mind to your every day life; filling in a census, bank details, a questionnaire, all of these instances involve you passing on private information to others. In the twenty first century it is so normal that sometimes these details aren’t even considered private any more.

Amongst my peers it is normal to share who one has voted for in the general election; whereas my parent’s generation are vigilant not to tell anyone. This illustrates a shift in preferences surrounding confidentiality within the generations.

These days the public are sometimes defeatist towards aspects of their privacy being invaded and take it as a price to pay for credit or governmental assistance. (McLean 1995) However, it is one of the moral panics of the information age, with the online world growing so rapidly people are worried about where it will end. Privacy online is an integral worry of the public, with adverts and offers targeting them left, right and centre. Marketers argue that targeted online advertising is helpful for consumers, many consumers fight back labelling it as invasion of privacy. Privacy rights often stand in the way of marketers, with consumers wanting their rights established, but marketers needing their details to target them successfully.

[Online] …allows information to flow freely between buyers and sellers, removes costs from business processes and increases customer choice. But privacy and security are becoming major issues for individuals and corporations. If we cannot guarantee our privacy, how much will we choose to share with companies online? Without the consent of their customers to use personal information, marketers cannot exploit the real benefits of online networks. (Rowan 2002)

A current issue surrounding this topic is the enabling of tracking cookies online. A new law; set to come into action on the 25^th of May 2011, which requires advertisers to seek consent from consumers before using tracking devices on their online behaviour; is being discussed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (bbc.co.uk)

Behavioural advertising is a burgeoning industry for advertisers and, potentially, a very lucrative one. But it relies heavily on being able to track online behaviour via cookies - small text files placed on a user's computer. (bbc.co.uk)

There are numerous issues with the pending law at the moment, with opposing sides battling for what will benefit them most. The main priority is not to affect the browsing experience, which could be ruined if consent was needed for every page viewed.

This government movement is being negatively received by advertising officials stating that the new law

‘is potentially detrimental to consumers, business and the UK digital economy. It raises significant implementation challenges right across Europe’ (Nick Stringer IAB's director of regulatory affairs cited BBC)

Digital advertising has been swept along in the wave where consumers are no longer passive. Advertising communications now follow a multi way process with consumers having more of a voice than ever before. As a result of this empowerment; having the right to privacy seems to follow on fittingly.

In an effort to assess the entire issue I will evaluate another side to the subject matter. The government and campaigners talk of a human right to privacy, but do all consumers really want it? After all we are quite happy to exploit the privacy of celebrities, the royal family and reality TV stars. Is it even a valued concept these days?

Opinion is still largely split over this issue; with a large generational divide. Young people today are generally less worried by privacy as they have grown up in a world lacking it.

Even so, whether privacy is a particular worry to someone or not; marketers should be introducing transparency into how they deliver the consumer experience. If not then aren’t they just “admitting that success can only be achieved by keeping consumers in the dark?” (Pearse, 2007)

Word count: 957

References

2011. BBC News. Governments ‘not ready’ for new European Privacy Law. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12677534 [Accessed

6/4/11]

McLean, D.,1995.  Privacy and Its Invasion. London: Greenwood Press

Pearse,. 2007, New Media Age. Do consumers really want their privacy? Available from: http://www.nma.co.uk/opinion/do-consumers-really-want-their-privacy?/36193.article [Accessed 6/4/11]

Rowan, William., 2002 Digital Marketing : Using New Technologies to Get Closer to Your Customers.Milford, CT, USA: Kogan Page Ltd Available from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/bournemouth/Doc?id=10023720&ppg=13 [Accessed 6/4/11]

Waldo, J., Millett, H., Lynette, I., 2007 Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: National Academies Press

Measuring Ad Success

“The easy days are over. Clients are no longer willing to blindly throw vast sums of money at brand campaigns that provide little or no measurable ROI. Fragmentation will demand far more complex multimedia solutions, and the media will have to be far more willing to demonstrate value for money.” Mike Jarvis, Media Director, Banner Group



Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage (Wikipedia)


Alongside technological advances, advertising measurement has become more important to companies than ever. They want reassurance that their money is being well spent. As a result companies such as BPA and ComScore have come along to fulfil this role.


“With online display ads yielding click-thru rates of less than 0.1 percent, advertisers can no longer rely on click-thrus to gauge online ad performance. Doing so fails to capture the impact of advertising impressions – or view-thru – on attitude and future behavior, which are essential metrics in assessing the complete return on an investment in online advertising.” Evan Neufeld, comScore vice president of advertising solutions (http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2008/11/Value_of_Online_Advertising)


These companies acknowledge that simply counting click thru rates and web traffic will not predict future behavior or attitudes regarding a brand. This encompasses the new stage we’re in with Ad measurement these days. At the same time, traditional methods are highly valued.


Gian Fulgoni, Chairman & Co-founder, ComScore explains how just because something can be measured doesn’t mean it is relevant.





Despite a surge in technology, it is largely the traditional measurement values which are still the most useful. “What we say to consumers, to how many and how often”; which is what those in the following clip would have concentrated on 50 years ago. We may not have the freedom of their big budgets with few measurement expectations but has the industry really changed that much...?

Regulation and Ethics online

The term ‘Web 2.0’ refers to ‘The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static web pages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking.’(http://en.wiktionary.org)

We are a world away from using the web solely for informational purposes. Web 2.0 is the start and end of everything. Ever been cut off for a few hours? It’s shameful to admit that it does impact your life a lot more than you’d like to believe.

With online being such a prominent source in our lives it makes sense that the same sort of ethical behaviour and expectations apply to it as in everything else in our lives. This however, is not the case. The majority of online material has only been included in CAP and ASA regulation in the last month. (http://www.asa.org.uk/Regulation-Explained/Online-remit.aspx) So, for a good 10 years when the internet has been popular it has been extremely difficult for anyone to have a complaint upheld or dealt with.

Twitter has come under scrutiny recently with certain companies using it as a portal for marketing through exploiting natural disasters. Microsoft was slated for using the tragedy in Japan to gain retweets….

“How you can #SupportJapan - http://binged.it/fEh7iT. For every retweet, @bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims, up to $100K.

Try Bing. A new way to search, explore, & decide”

After much anger and criticism, they apologised and donated a generous sum to Japan. Although hastily dealt with; this example goes to show how digital communications can be used badly in an effort to portray CSR, but just achieve the opposite effect. In this day in age, where everyone sees everything at the click of a button and can voice an opinion so quickly, it is dangerous to be so obviously ‘markety’ surrounding a disaster.

“We apologize the tweet was negatively perceived. Intent was to provide an easy way for people to help Japan. We have donated $100K.”

“Let's face it, any public statement made by a brand about something good it did is self-serving. Get over it. John D. Rockefeller once said "Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing." Good advice for any brand I'd say. There is nothing wrong with letting people know you are helping a good cause. But how a brand goes about this is very important.” (http://www.brandrants.com/2011/03/dont-forget-the-tact-in-your-online-fundraising-tactics.html)

Dataveilance is  ‘the systematic surveillance of all the electronic records of a person's activities, especially the usage of credit cards, mobile phones, email and the Internet’ (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dataveillance) and is an example of how privacy and ethics can be compromised online.

If you’ve ever tried ‘googling’ yourself, you most likely will have come across information you didn’t know was public; like your mobile number, email address, even wall posts you’ve written to people who aren’t vigilant with their privacy settings on Facebook.


 It is unnerving to know anyone can see this sort of thing and I believe; ethically wrong. There are strict rules regarding privacy in other areas of our lives so it seems fair that these should be extended to our increasingly digital lifestyles.