| | May 20149CIOReviewof understanding individual consumer identity and patterns, making the need to obtain detailed information about a given customer's background and behavior critical to the survival of many modern businesses. In other words, businesses aren't just receiving information anymore; they're using information, with a purpose. The sea change inherent in businesses' need to benefit from personal information means the responsibility to ensure privacy has permanently transitioned from the discloser to the user, and that means organizations must take immediate steps to ensure their burgeoning Big Data programs are implemented with the ethics of privacy in mind. Though the blueprint for doing so is not nearly complete, here are three steps that can help businesses move in the right direction: 1 ­ Understand the Risk Factors Many Big Data privacy breaches are unintentional and unbeknownst to the analyst. That's why it's critical for everyone involved in a Big Data initiative to understand the risks associated with the handling of customer information. Perhaps the biggest risk lies in the merging of bought data with other pattern data to infer or detect non-disclosed information--information that may be private in the eyes of the customer. That's precisely what happened in the case of one name-brand retailer when it sent coupons for pregnancy-related items to a teenager, which prompted an angry father, unaware his daughter was in fact pregnant, to berate a local store manager. To ensure an ethical practice, only target customers based on information disclosed within any single transfer of data.2 ­ Educate Users Putting policies in place that prevent employees from detecting non-disclosed information is only part of the equation. Employees must still take personal responsibility for what they do with customer data ­ even data obtained in an ethical manner. It's thus imperative for a company to educate its staff on what level of targeting is acceptable, and, conversely, where the gray areas are that can potentially be harmful to both the customer and the company's brand. For example, if data shows that a specific customer has a heightened cancer risk, should a company treat him as such with their promotional materials and product offerings, despite the fact that he may be perfectly healthy today? Employees need clear guidelines as to how specific situations should be handled.3 ­ Design and use tools with privacy in mind This applies to both the vendors creating analytical tools and the analysts using them. Today's Big Data analytics technologies are undeniably powerful and only getting better, enabling analysts to reach further than they ever could under the do-not-disclose privacy paradigm. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Without careful consideration by both the designer and user of a given analytical system, the over-stepping of acceptable boundaries can and will happen. 4 ­ Lead from the top down Employees take their cues from company leaders, and Big Data is no exception in this regard. Top-level executives and business leaders must make clear to the company's analysts, marketers and line-of-business managers that it is not acceptable to achieve company objectives at the expense of customer privacy. The need to derive business value from Big Data is paramount, but in a world where technology regularly outpaces social norms, and customers haven't yet had enough time to express their comfort zones over the use of their personal and usage pattern data, the onus is on business leaders to demand employees to follow an ethical path forward. Businesses aren't just receiving information anymore; they're using information, with a purposeMatt Wolken
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