I recently received a very tempting offer. It came from my local PSEG electric utility asked for something that seemed mild in nature - access to my home’s #Nest devices.
Being an inquisitive person by nature, I asked my favorite question: Why? The problem with these types of requests is that they are driven by an insatiable desire for business insights on behalf of corporations. On the other hand, the #trust level in the corporations that are asking for our consent is at an all-time low. Let’s explore what in this offer made me feel even less trusting than I was before the request. 1. Why do you need my Nest thermostat data which, by the way, includes #motion sensor #data so it knows if you are in the house or not, #creepy. 2. Is this privacy intrusion going to give me better service from the electric utility such as #added value services? Will this information let me sell excess power back to the grid for being a frugal consumer? 3. Who will you share my data with? 4. Can I have control and change my mind? 5. Most importantly, will I be able to trace my data? Will there be #trasparency As regulations are changing, so are the business processes around consent. In countries such as #Thailand, #Singapore, #Australia and #Brazil, the next generation regulations are requiring consent for any type of use of the consumer’s data. Granular #consent requirements a different mechanism to interact with client experience channels in an automated manner. The issue of trust, or lack of it, not only exists between organizations and their end users, but also between organizations themselves (#B2B). Take an organization like Visa. For decades, their credit card processor was not privy to #skew data, and although they were able to know that I went to Costco Wholesale, they did not know what I bought for that $100. However, with the right consent and reward mechanism, they might be able to convince end users to allow the vendors to share skew data with them for a #reward or another added value service. However, for this to work, Visa needs to establish a mechanism to automatically gather granular consent but at the same time provide traceability to the end client. The measures mentioned in the above 5 questions would establish the required #trust to ethically collect business insights. 96% of individuals blocked all apps on Apple’s privacy feature which is proof that although our future generations aged 18-44 care more about their privacy, even us older generations do care when presented with tools to control our privacy. The equation is changing quickly and driven by regulation, technology (#web3), and most importantly, the ethical and sustainable credits (#ESG) for corporations that treat their client’s data ethically. Remember, #privacy is a #human and #social right!