Author: Stephen Ritter
Publisher: Forbes
Publication Year: 2020
Summary: The following article talks about the current period in 2020, when enterprises around the world have unprecedented, nearly unfiltered access to consumers’ personal data, businesses are facing a new kind of question: What responsibility — legal and, just as importantly, ethical — do they have to protect the data they collect and use? What matters is why and how the data is collected, how it is protected when the company stores it, and whether consumers have a say in how their information is used. Because the commoditization of consumer data is not likely to end anytime soon, it is up to the businesses that gather and profit from this data to engage directly with their customers and establish data protections they will trust. Since big data collection and analysis will continue to grow, changing the way consumers are treated, from product to partner, will ensure companies meet their regulatory and ethical obligations to use that data responsibly — and gain their customers’ trust.