UK watchdog grills big biz: So HOW do you use their 'consumer data'? The UK's main competition regulator is looking to build its knowledge of how consumer data is collected, used and traded by businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has asked businesses, trade bodies and other stakeholders to provide it with information about the commercial use of UK consumer data (10-page/262KB …
It doesn't bode well for the outcome that he apparently dwells entirely in a particularly nasty kool-aid induced la-la land where ads really are fun. Sadly, this suggestion of targeted ads as a positive thing appears more and more often, and not always spouted by marketing weasels, although often its along the lines of 'at least its better than random ads'; personally I find them more irritating.
I'd bet their 'better understanding' doesn't extend to the consumers point of view, just the creation of a better fig leaf for data grabbing.
...store it, mine it, monetise it?
Damn you, now I'm going to have that tune in my head all day, along with images of the animatronic Chuckie with his face peeled off.
To keep it on topic, if you don't want it mined, don't give it out in the first place. Think before you fill in that form, "do these people really need this information? Can these people validate this information?" If the answer is no to either, simply don't fill it in or falsify. Honesty may be the best policy but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. If you drop a dead cow down the well of your digital footprint they're going to have to stop slurping the water from it eventually.
Advertising and data slurping dont have to be the same thing.
Id much rather watch ads than pay for stuff. Im astonished theres no movie streaming service like netflix that isnt already doing it without a sub fee.
Collecting data and selling it is fine as well...as long as it is anonymous and after a certain period of time it gets published and made available to everyone.
Im sure marketing data has a useful shelf life. So once its reached a certain age and is less useful it should be published.
The only way to help cut down on taking the piss with data collection is make the fuckers publish it in its entirety. They can be caught out then.
Plus everyone gets to benefit from the knowledge then to some extent.
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