When private becomes public

With data being so readily available on the Internet, whose responsibility is it to ensure that your personal data is safe?

It seems like every day we’re hearing about someone who now regrets a Facebook comment, or we’re learning that ‘privacy’ has no single clear meaning that can be relied upon. One thing is becoming increasingly clear: Any organisation reading  or using what people write online (which could describe almost any of them) is navigating an increasingly complicated landscape with few legal precedents to guide the way.

Users are using the Internet to publish more and more of their personal information, such as their date of birth, their current employer, even where they’re having lunch through location-aware services such as Foursquare. Although they may use the privacy tools provided by the platform they choose (such as Facebook’s new, atomic privacy settings), an astonishing amount of information is still available to anyone who is determined enough to access it.  Unfortunately for organisations being tempted, there are few clear rules about how to use by rich source of information.

So, it’s up to each organisation to decide what is appropriate, and to communicate their decisions clearly to their users (or employees). Being upfront about intentions is important: it may be tempting to ask forgiveness rather than permission, but that approach can do serious long-term damage to your credibility, ethical standing and general reputation. Alerting users and employees to exactly what will happen to any information they provide, having a clear policy for them to read, and allowing them to withdraw consent at any time are all effective approaches to ensure that you’re acting ethically and appropriately.

Most importantly, remember that the information you want to access – whether to research your customers, to manage human resources, or to predict market trends – is not necessarily intended for public consumption, simply because it’s been published online. Making careful, conscious decisions based on clear consent provided by informed users, employees or customers will help you avoid making any incorrect and damaging assumptions.