Value your data
A look at how e commerce will change given the data privacy concerns
“If you are good at something , never do it for free”- Some guy with a funny face
You do a google search , while away your time on facebook or purchase something cool on amazon , one thing that you do best is leave a digital trail of yours across the internet. Everyone who has a business on the internet will give an arm and a leg to get hold of this data. Why not ? This is what they live off . So , if its so valuable why do you give it off for free ? But this is not all back and white , is it ?
While you can argue that exchanging your data for a free service might be okay for some people , there are these second kind who I do not approve of . The ones who sell their goods or services in exchange of money and yet go ahead and mine the data for their advantage. Most of the times , the rights to gather the data and the terms and condition to process the same is buried deep inside the privacy policy statement in some obscure corner of the website. For me the transaction is over as soon you pay up. Thereafter you are paying way above what you owe ,with the data. With the recent furore over data privacy, privacy as a service will not be a buzz word any more.Companies doing business on the internet will have to change. Few options that come to mind :
1. Pay up for the data : The service providers start paying the customers for using the data. This can be in terms of discounts , offers, longer subscriptions or any other benefits. It should be opt in feature and the customers should be made aware of the implications of their choice. Customers willing not to share their data , do not get the additional benefits. Simple as that.
2. The “Meta service” :The rise of meta services as Doug Stephens puts it is also pretty much possible. He explains the existence of a digital data vault which is optimized , secured ,anonomyzed, and most importantly owned by you. You can decide which service providers can have access to your digital vault and get paid for the same. I really like this concept and it does have a lot of potential.
3. Don’t be evil : Give up on data. There are lot of services available currently for which data privacy is the USP. Hushmail , ShazzleMail just to name a few. They claim to encrypt your data and leave no trails. It is possible that a company in the e commerce space will get on to this band wagon and charm everyone with its innocence.
All this requires a complete shift from the way the business is run currently. But given the way business changes in the cyber world , companies might just be running out of time.
Also part of my personal blog http://rajeevanair.blogspot.in/
