Nick Bromley, a privacy consultant for the Greater London Authority, spoke at the NextGen 2014 conference about the importance of being an ethical company when it comes to gathering data on your customers, and how to retain their trust when it comes to data.
Here is what he had to say on the subject.
"If you look at the example of Estonia," Nick told us during his keynote, "they used to have an authoritarian regime in which personal privacy wasn’t guaranteed by law. So they’re very happy to have personal privacy today, but the most important thing in Estonia is transparency. So for instance a tax official can check your personal details, but if he does so, you’re notified that he’s checked it".
"It’s similar with speed cameras," he went on. "If you want to reduce speeding, you have to tell people that there’s a speed camera in a certain place. So privacy is important in Estonia, but transparency is what really makes it work. I think they’re leading the world, along with Germany, in how we treat personal privacy".
Nick drew a strong line between the spectacular overreach of US and UK intelligence organizations and the unfortunate scourge of companies acting cavalierly with their customers’ data.
"I’m sure everyone’s heard of Edward Snowden, and one of the most interesting things to come out of Laura Poitras’ recent film Citizen 4 is that not only are the government watching, but the scary thing is you don’t know when they’re watching".
So what advice did Nick have for business leaders on how to gain their customers’ trust when it comes to sharing data?
"Companies have to be clear in communication as to the source of data, as well as when, where and how your data might be used. You have to have a balanced relationship with the provider of the data, not an asymmetric one. That means that if someone sees a benefit to providing their data, and you can offer them a clear advantage, then they’re quite happy to go along with it. Organizations like GCHQ engage in a kind of bullying, in an asymmetric relationship with the providers of the data they use".
So what does it mean to be an ethical data gatherer?
"An ethical organization will never make a backroom deal to share data with partners. So do we want democracy on the Estonian model, or do we want an authoritarian state? Unfortunately I think we’re sleepwalking into the second one. The government of the future has to think clearly and engage in dialog with us over exactly how we want our data to be used. What GCHQ and other spy organizations are doing is quite simply an infringement of my human rights".
Scary stuff! What do you think makes a real ethical data company? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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