What's in it for me?
23 March 2011
How our online personal data is collected and used – and whether we have appropriate safeguards in place – is much talked about, particularly for people who use social media. And, that’s what I’ve just been speaking to the Westminster Media Forum about: Read the press release: Consumers need to know what the trade-offs are before they hand over personal data online (PDF 146KB, opens in a new window)
Using the internet in our everyday lives is gathering a momentum from which there is no way back and sharing personal data can bring huge benefits for consumers in the form of more personalised services and lower prices. The problem that our new research project has highlighted is that consumers have a low awareness of how their data is collected – while, in an apparently contradictory view, they say that controlling their personal data is their own responsibility.
Does this mean that consumers believe they should be in control, but are actually unable to carry this out? I’m not yet sure. We need to ask more questions to get to the bottom of what’s really happening. But, for me the bottom line should always be that consumers make an informed choice about what they share – and what they get in return. So companies need to explain the benefits that can result from sharing data, and tell us in a straightforward way how they go about collecting, using and protecting our data – before we decide to hand over the details of our lives.
At the moment consumers seem to be saying that they know that they are making a trade-off in allowing their data to be used; but they don’t know what the trade-off that they are making is.
Bob Warner, Communications Consumer Panel Member