Context, permission, and accuracy
We would be the first to admit that we are not experts on ethics or the legal issues involved with respect to data analytics. Based on our extensive business experience, though, we suggest that companies deploying the technology consider three important factors: context, permission, and accuracy. By taking into account all three factors, executives will be better able to gauge whether a particular application will be perceived as reasonable to the many stakeholders involved.
Context. Many people are perfectly fine with expert predictive analytics that improve customer service. When they visit a leading e-commerce site that’s able to suggest “what else” they might like or predict the color of a garment that they might like best, they aren’t put off by these types of insights into their buying habits, because the suggestions are contextually in line with the buying experience.
But consider the following example. Alice...