Going public about privacy
Cole Sanders
21 July 2008
The exposed CIO : Going public about privacy What do we have to hide? The outcry about the quantity of info held on people is completely understandable, claims the exposed CIO. But then again debates about knowledge sharing between agencies and healthcare establishments have also raised the temperature a number of notches. On that we've had the drive towards countrywide info consolidation in the private and non-private sectors. But are we criminals? Do we've something to hide? There are advantages to this sharing. After all, security is a heightening concern and the capability for, contend, healthcare execs to diagnose and cure patients must be positive, right? Having worked in a shopper service-based industry for several years, also I am very aware that buyers expect companies to grasp about them. The purchasing public think companies know their preferences and as importantly their dislikes or bad experiences. Naturally, in several cases these are based primarily on a single relationship with a shopper and a business. We do this to market more effectively to consumers who match the predictive characteristics of folks who have a tendency to buy our products. This data is readily available, just as credit data is readily available to establishments that offer monetary services. Maybe privacy, as we suspect it to be, is an illusion. But I speculate what would occur if this knowledge were not available. Consider the results of extending credit without correct checks. I observe the data we obtain on our shoppers - folks who have already engaged in some sort of exchange with us. Shoppers give off mixed signals about what they think companies to understand about them. Information consolidation and better knowledge on customers is good as long as the data is employed wisely and is correctly secured and protected. Bigger transparency of data would permit shoppers to be better served, their healthcare to be better provided and their lives and standing more secure. Why not? There's a lot of knowledge out there and if it was employed more effectively would not our lives be better and simpler. Why should firms, healthcare services and the authorities have to guess? Knowledge sharing and information consolidation must be applicable to those using it. Healthcare data, as an example, should just be available to healthcare agencies and certified suppliers. In that light ID cards don't appear such a bad concept - why should they be? In this growing area, youll have each opportunity to use your technical abilities.
|