On 2/16/2012 4:30 PM, Benjamin Krueger wrote:
It's worth pointing out that this isn't the credit card company, but rather
Target (or your favorite retailer) here doing the data mining. Does using a
credit or debit card automatically grant them the right to profile your
purchases simply because you agreed to let Visa track your transactions?
But more importantly, as the people who build the tools that make this
possible, what is our role in deciding what is and isn't too far? I don't want
to drag in the emotional intensity of this comparison, but it is similar to the
scenario of arms dealing. Guns can be used to liberate or to tyrannize, and so
can big data. Don't we have some level of obligation to at least consider the
consequences of the technology we are providing and who we are providing it to?
It just so happens that they use a credit card. They could use a
picture of you, or something else entirely. Credit cards are easier, but
I don't really think that that's really the issue. Retailers would argue
that it provides benefits:
*) they can use the profile of things that you bought and things that
other people bought to suggest things that you might like. Most people
find this useful. I've actually seen some things on Amazon that were
recommended based upon similar profiling that I otherwise wouldn't have
known about. Google search ranking is another area where correlated data
is very useful, even the payed adverts.
*) they can organize their inventory better to make a more expedient
shopping experience for items of a correlated nature. (supermarkets have
been doing this for years at a different level)
*) they can stock more of the things that you like.
Are they wrong? Probably not. Is it unethical to give people more of
what they like? Not necessarily. Is the way that they are doing it
wrong? I'm not so sure. Does the implications of this make people
uncomfortable? undoubtably to some, not so much to others.
another big area for similar sort of profiling is political parties.
they have HUGE databases and target their GOTV (get out the vote)
efforts based upon areas of likely success, and they have huge
cross-corelated databases. The Republican party's DB is particularly
comprehensive, from what I understand.
Some of these things make people more uncomfortable than others, and
it's debatable which of them cross moral boundaries.
Obvious choices:
* use cash
* work elsewhere
* shop elsewhere
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators
http://lopsa.org/
