22 technology: managing data
What levels of privacy should be afforded to data shared on social media?
Medical information shared with a friend over the telephone. Your home address given out to selected guests in an e-mailed invitation. Few people would doubt that the information, the personal data, being conveyed in each of these cases was private. Social media, in seeking to duplicate the immediacy and intimacy of those off-line exchanges, has fostered a misapprehension for many people that the same levels of privacy attach to data shared with the same recipients through social media channels, writes Will Richmond-Coggan, partner, Pitmans LLP
This has led to a variety of recent situations, where an assumption of privacy has led to the publication of information which has had significant consequences for those involved.
Clear and carefully drawn policies will assist, as will a consistent and common sense attitude towards the data that is placed within your custody
Many will be aware of the lawyer whose wife shared on Twitter the pseudonym under which J K Rowling had written a new novel, leading to serious consequences for him and his firm. More recently, there have been reports of a case in the United States where a man who had entered into a negotiated settlement of a personal injury claim has lost all of the compensation due to him, because his daughter posted a gloating message on Facebook in which she disclosed details of the settlement which her father had been required to keep confidential.
This mistaken assumption of privacy in online social exchanges is encouraged by the use of the terminology of "privacy policies" to describe the terms under which private information may be shared with advertisers and others. But the ability to use the data is the lifeblood of most of these companies.
For businesses, there is considerable value in the information which emerges from consumers and customers in their perceived privacy. Such information gives a more honest, and therefore accurate, indication of attitudes and likely buying habits than can necessarily be obtained through more formal and costly market research. In addition, consumers place a high value on the benefits of this currency of personal data – they appreciate the book recommendations from their online retailer, or the ability to use sophisticated social
www.businessmag.co.uk THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY –APRIL 2014
networking tools or online data storage without a monetary charge.
The challenge for businesses that want to use such data, is ensuring that they do not end up on the wrong side of consumer outrage if they are perceived to be misusing it, or straying into territory in which there is an expectation of privacy. Just as patients are comfortable with centralisation of data if it improves NHS service delivery, but less so if the data is being sold to insurers and increasing premiums, so there is a careful balance to be struck by private sector data processors.
Clear and carefully drawn policies will assist, as will a consistent and common sense attitude towards the data that is placed within your custody. In that way, supplier and consumer alike can benefit from the value that such data can add to service delivery.
Details: Will Richmond-Coggan 0118-9570369
wrcoggan@pitmans.com www.pitmans.com
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