How freely do you discuss the details about how you think, what you like, what you believe and the challenges you face with strangers?

Sites, apps, data brokers and marketing analytics firms are gathering more and more details about people’s personal lives — from their social connections and health concerns to the ways they toggle between their devices. The intelligence is often used to help tailor online experiences or marketing pitches. Such data can also potentially be used to make inferences about people’s financial status, addictions, medical conditions, fitness, politics or religion in ways they may not want or like.

How willing would you be to sell that information to benefit a total stranger?

What if it would benefit a pet company, such as Apple, Facebook or Hulu?

You already give up your personal information in return for better access to their products and services, but you do so with the idea that you won’t be packaged and sold.

In fact, most sites tell you upfront that they won’t “share your personal data with third parties.”

But, as they say, the devil is in the details and buried deep in the privacy statements is a giant ‘but…’

Of the 99 sites with English-language terms of service or privacy policies, 85 said they might transfer users’ information if a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, asset sale or other transaction occurred, The Times’s analysis found. The sites with these provisions include prominent consumer technology companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn, in addition to Hulu.

It’s a safe bet that if these sites have that caveat, so do thousands of others — both large and small.

The expansion of the Internet of Things provides companies a far more intimate look at your life than ever dreamed possible.

It’s a trend that is likely to widen as companies introduce new Internet-enabled products, like connected cars and video cameras, which can collect and transmit a constant stream of data to the cloud.

Your best hope (if you care) is to assume that caveat emptor reigns.

Generally, caveat emptor is the contract law principle that controls the sale of real property after the date of closing, but may also apply to sales of other goods.

Your data is ‘other goods’.

Stuff happens; economies go up and down and businesses wax and wane.

Any company, no matter how large or seemingly stable can find itself in the position of having to sell or transfer its assets.

Your data is an asset. Period.

Flickr image credit: safwat sayed

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 1:15 am and is filed under Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Tags: Apple, big data, Facebook, Google, Internet-of-Things, privacy
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