Information About Us and our Right to Know

Written on February 18th, 2009 by syamant

Absolute power corrupts. So does Absolute information.

There are enough examples of breach of policy and that there needs to be oversight to ensure things remain in control.

There is already enough about information collection practices that is worrying. Should the customer not have a way of knowing what Google, Facebook, or any other provider has collected?

Should the customer not be aware of the data sharing practices of an organisation ? Specifically who has it been shared with and for how long ?

If the information is likely to be misused or is being misused, what is the recourse of the individual ? After all a “free” service does not mean that information can be freely used or there is no recourse.

The damage caused to an individual can be irreparable by an “inadvertent” mistake of the company.

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Respecting customer privacy

Written on May 10th, 2008 by syamant

Here are some questions that have bothered me and have formed the basis of a study :

  1. Is this “No Longer an Autonomous Island” bit completely transparent ?
  2. Will the customer know what data is being shared and with whom?
  3. At what stage does the data actually get shared ?  When the customer uses a services on another platform or even before that ?
  4. Does the customer have to agree to a single privacy policy or multiple for each site ?
  5. What happens to the third party “friendly sites” of partner sites. Do they get any data or benefits ? Can a customer stop it?
  6. Is there a tool provided by any of the platform sites to manage information across the network?
  7. The companies seem to get all the benefits but how does the customer benefit , other than not having to enter the information more than once?

Would like to know your thoughts on the same or join the conversation at Internet Evolution.

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