September 4, 2010

Loss of Locational Privacy

An editorial in today’s NY Times laments the loss of locational privacy thanks to swipe cards, cell phones, and toll transponders. The author asks legitimate questions: how many appications link “who” with “where” unnecessarily and for how long does this information need to be stored?

Analytics-based competitors need to take heed for a couple of reasons: one is the privacy concern raised by the author. Another is whether extraneous data helps or hurt over the long-term. Storage is cheap but it isn’t free anything you store is subject to possible hacking or, as the author points out, subpoena. If it isn’t essential, do you want be bothered with it. Just because you can gather it doesn’t mean you should.

However if you can deliver a tangible benefit to the person whose data you  are collecting, be sure to articulate it and provide the option to opt out.

What do you think: Legitimate or over-blown concern?

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About Eric McNulty
Editorial Director Eric J. McNulty most recently served as Managing Director of Conferences for Harvard Business Publishing. In this role he was responsible for the company's global conference and event business. His primary responsibility was editorial development and he oversaw production and marketing of both virtual and in-person programs. Eric has also written for Harvard Business Review, Harvard Management Update, Marketwatch, Strategy & Innovation, the Boston Business Journal, and Worthwhile magazine. He edited Harvard Business Publishing's Innovation Alert e-newsletter for two years and has worked with such thought leaders as Clayton Christensen, Thomas Davenport, Vijay Govindarajan, Gary Hamel, Jeanne Harris, Chan Kim, and Renee Mauborgne through Harvard Business Publishing events. Prior to joining Harvard Business Publishing, Eric was principal and founder of PM Collaborative – a marketing strategy consultancy serving clients such as Infiniti Motor Corporation, Legal Sea Foods, Cybersmith, and others. Previously he served in management and marketing roles at European Travel & Life magazine, Mark Cross, and Bloomingdale's.

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