Marketers can target you with pinpoint accuracy based on the data and information you have shared. Our digital identity, digital reputation and digital footprint is creating value and wealth for others and your privacy setting is their business model. As users we get some services for free but is this a sufficiently fair trade or barter for your data and trust.
Digital Identity is complex and hot. Digital identity extends from the simple view that it allows you to log in using a user ID and password to the all embarrassing view that it includes all that data that you provide, knowingly and unknowingly, from digital interactions with your mobile, PC and TV. The dark side of digital identity is invasion, snooping, identity fraud, lost data and the subsequent abuse of your data and costs £25 per person in the UK ref http://www.identitytheft.org.uk/cost-of-identity-fraud.asp The enlighten side argues that your data has value and the owner of the data should gain benefits from providing it and everyone agrees that security is critical. This could be £50 per person based only on the market cap of Google divided across the number of users.
In detail the data you give up includes: the search term you type into Google, which link you click on, irrespective of device or connection, PC, mobile or TV; your photos, videos and tags entered on YouTube and Flickr; IM messages on Skype; the comments and interactions on Facebook; content you create and content you consume; what TV channels you watch; which advert you follow; your purchase history; how you react to referrals and recommendations; your comments on Amazon; your attention; your calendar, your email; your rating on EBay and every other digital interaction. These examples are a mix of active data, that data that you willingly and knowingly gave up and passive data, that data you were unaware you gave. Increasingly passive data is becoming more prevalent especially when considering mobile and wireless devices become sensors. Mobile also extends the data collection ability Web 2.0, as the mobile is always with you it provides location to your interaction, it provides context and it will provide details on who you are doing things with.
Knowing that your data can be used to improve your services and the services of others, is there a fair trade for your data and how should this data be collected, stored, analysed and used. At the next mashup* event, 25th Mar, 6-9pm, London http://www.mashupevent.com/identity-event we will explore how data is being gathered [with and with out your knowledge], reality mining, how these behavioural and technological changes are affecting the marketing and privacy industries and what we can expect from the regulators. Are you valuable or not?
