How Companies Know Your Personal Info, What They Do With It, How You Are Protected - Essay Example

Data Mining: How companies know your personal info, what they do with it, how we are/are not protected? Companies in this day and age use a number oftechniques to extract data and personal information which might not be deciphered easily by people. This is because they are unaware of how their secret information is being revealed to companies all over the world. Even though this is an unethical act, these companies are employing mechanisms which have increased their business realms by manifolds. What they seem to do in essence is to find out the user preferences with regards to a certain brand, product or service that they buy, use or sell. This marks their preferences which are used for understanding how often they would shop, where they travel to for getting a brand and what kind of price they are ready to pay for obtaining the said product. Data mining has come of age because it has been linked up with understanding the people in particular and how they employ the basic dictum of buying and selling. This also helps the companies to comprehend how well their target base is shifting its basis and what kind of changes are happening within their fore. The manner in which this personal information is being made use of suggests that the unethical norms and routines are on the upsurge, and these need to be controlled for all the right reasons. Data mining is important to understand because its usage has been openly discussed, criticized and analyzed upon. It has touched upon the significant pointers which have paid emphasis on the way the user privacy levels have been transgressed upon of late, and how these have meant serious problems for them; no matter they are available in a physical form or a virtual one (Greenberg, 2006). The data mining procedures are usually given the cover by the people who conduct the same. They believe that it is an ethical process which is good for the company and hence they go about conducting the same business data mining activities. Also they believe staunchly that they must know more in order to give back towards their own business entireties. The personal information that has been saved by the companies in the wake of the data mining procedures is somewhat of a confusing debate. This is because the data mining activities shall be the cornerstone of their reaching towards new and unique customers of products and services. By this, they can find out how the new and unique customers would have their respective preferences and how this shall help the brand (and the company) to develop as a result of the same undertakings. For the users, they seem to be living in an unprotected zone. This is because they are unaware who is secretly tracking their information and which individual or company is trying its best to reach out to this user in the future. There is a sense of susceptibility with regards to the users when they are unaware of who is going to contact them next and in what capacity this contact will be established. Perhaps, it is about time that the companies realized that there must be an ethical way to bring about contact with the people than merely reaching out to them as strangers. However, much needs to be understood and that too in a proper manner to achieve sound results (Gopalani, 2011). The personal information is important for everyone because it changes the course of one’s entirety. If this is compromised upon, it will mean that the people are being taken for granted by these companies, which is simply deemed as unacceptable on their part. The data mining techniques might look very glamorous to these companies but what they seem to forget is the fact that these companies have a major responsibility to take care of. The reason why people seem to be not protected from the data mining techniques which are in use is because they know already that their information and private data is being compromised upon, and hence the need to set things right. The privacy levels will resolve quite a lot of problems if there are concerted efforts made by the data mining companies to solicit information from the people themselves. The need is to remain head-on with the changing needs of the time and thus get acquainted with the varying circumstances of the business domains. Now how this privacy will be taken care of is something that shall be understood in entirety by the people who are in charge and who shall be the basis of success for the data mining aspects that are related with the business regimes. The data privacy discussions have attained a great deal of importance because these have been made possible by attacks from hackers, crackers and system intruders over a period of time. What this has done in essence is to tell the world that the virtual world of Internet is not safe and raises quite a lot of questions from different angles and perspectives, all of which are based on the dictum of bringing about a change that is drastic and for the long term, be it in the positive sense or in the negative one. People get haunted due to the fact that when they will be contacted by unknown individuals who basically have a great amount of information regarding them, they would start feeling unsafe for a number of different reasons (Fitsimmons, 2011). They will feel that their privacy is being transgressed and that they need to come to terms with the changing norms and values of the society. These discussions center on the premise of bringing about a change that is negative in its disposition and does more harm than any good in the long term scheme of things. As far as feeling insecure regarding the working norms of the companies with respect to finding out new and unique data about people, what is important here is to know that the businesses must not do acts which are unethical in their entireties. This has meant that the people need to be made aware of how this data has been mined and where it shall be used with their own permission. Such understandings are important in order to inculcate a feeling of optimism with regards to the working dynamics of the data mining companies and how they shall move forward with the passage of time. What remains to be seen is how well these data mining companies understand the dictum of being ethical within their perspectives and what they are ready and willing to do in order to shed off their already developed stereotypes. The insecurity also rises because the individuals whose data has been compromised upon feel that they are being hard done by, and that they need to be treated better by the authorities who are involved within the terrains of data mining. They opine that this data is being stolen by the companies and this process should come to an end. They are generally against the very dictum of transferring the data to other companies and business units, which is not seen with a good stance by the people from different walks of life. Some people are so against the data mining elements that they go one step ahead and make their protest registered so that such techniques are not employed over them again (Hugl, 2011). This means that they find out ways and means through which their problems could be rectified and their data is kept secret as much as possible. There is a dire need to comprehend that feeling insecure is a very common aspect within the domains of the individuals who have been hard done by whilst being in contact with strangers over their data mechanisms. Now is the time to make amends because this is much needed so as to bring about a sense of sanity within the related ranks. It is always important to understand that no one appreciates that his data and information is compromised upon. There is a general sense of mistrust with regards to sharing one’s own data with people from different walks of life. The manner in which this personal information is made use of is something that needs to be taken care of in an adequately sound way. This will restore the confidence of the people spread in different corners of the world, and also allow the business realms to operate in a smooth manner all said and done (Allmer, 2011). The role of the business regimes is similarly very significant as these look to address the issues that mar their very basis. In the end, it would be fair to state that the times much like today require the companies to be ethical as far as possible, and thus get acquainted with the problems and concerns of the people whose data is being taken and ultimately used for a number of different purposes. The steps taken by these companies will go a long way towards addressing the issues that mar the data mining stereotypes which have come about with the passage of time. Works Cited Allmer, Thomas. A critical contribution to theoretical foundations of privacy studies. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 9(2), 2011 Fitsimmons, Gary. Directing the personnel search part II: notes on contacting applicants. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 24(1), 2011 Gopalani, Anees. The service-enabled customer experience: a jump-start to competitive advantage. Journal of Business Strategy, 32(3), 2011 Greenberg, Jerald. An Identity-Based Model of Organizational Monitoring: Integrating Information Privacy and Organizational Justice. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 25, 2006 Hugl, Dr. Ulrike. Reviewing Person’s Value of Privacy of Online Social Networking. Internet Research, 21(4), 2011 Read More