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PERSONAL DATA
Regardless of the industry companies work in, the demographics of their target market, you know that collecting data on customers helps them to improve almost every aspect of their business
The types of data collected by businesses include various types of data:
1) information about a fitness watch
2) user’s location
3) user’s IP address
4) the ads a person clicks on online
5) past searches
But what exactly are the benefits of collecting this type of consumer data?
Personal data is “any information that directly or indirectly identifies a natural person”.
This definition includes many common forms of information:
driver’s license, bank accounts, credit cards, passport, social Security number.
Sensitive personal data includes biometric data (e.g. fingerprints).
This data can be very useful for companies to better understand their prospects and launch targeted marketing campaigns. Used properly, the data helps companies better understand the needs and desires of their customers. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft), for the most part, generate value by exploiting them, selling them (for example, via a data broker) or exchanging them for other data. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft), for the most part, generate value by selling them (for example, via a data broker) or exchanging them for other data.
The consumer data that companies collect can be divided into four categories:
Personal data: This includes personally identifiable information, such as social security number and gender, as well as non-personally identifiable information, including your IP address, web browser cookies, and device identifiers (which your laptop and mobile device have).
Engagement Data: This data concerns how consumers interact with a website, mobile applications, text messages, social media pages, emails, paid advertisements and customer service routes.
Behavioral data: This category refers to purchase histories, product usage information ( repeat actions) and qualitative data (mouse movement information).
Attitudinal data: This data measures consumer satisfaction, purchase criteria, product desirability, etc.
Personal data is requested directly from prospects, through contact forms, when you:
1) Create an account on a website
2) Request to receive commercial information
3) Participate in a contest, promotion or survey
4) Place an order for products or services
5) Leave a review or comment
Automated technologies or interactions:
When you interact with a website, data are collected automatically via your actions and browsing habits, using cookies, web servers, etc.
For example, cookies are text files containing certain information about the user that are stored by the user’s browser on the user’s hard drive. They are present to facilitate your navigation and to personalize the content displayed. You are often forced to accept them.
What is an example of misuse of personal data?
Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain:
a) credit-card fraud (stealing of credit-card numbers)
b) Sharing or selling personal information to advertisers
c) Selling email address to advertisers or other services
d) Selling personal information to 3rd parties for aggregate data collection
