The Balance Between Privacy Regulations and Data Collection

Data collection is extremely important for businesses who are doing any form of business online or even just marketing online. …That’s virtually all businesses. Businesses need access to consumer data in order to utilize analytics and to understand what their target audience wants and needs from them.  Without this, businesses would be operating blind and would struggle significantly to turn a profit or to stay open at all. 

However, individuals also need privacy and protection from an overabundance of data collection. Cookies and tags have been used to track consumer data to the point that there has been a serious invasion of privacy, resulting in new regulations that protect individuals, but also make it difficult for businesses to keep gathering the information they need. 

The ePrivacy Directive and General Data Protection Regulation have given consumers the ability to stay protected through things such as the right to be informed, the right to erasure, the right to object, and the right to restrict processing, among other things. 

These new regulations have come with hefty fines if businesses don’t comply. For instance, the failure to obtain “freely given” consent has cost Amazon 877 million dollars. 

The problem is that users are now having to consent far too often and “consent fatigue” is often resulting in a much smaller group of consenting consumers, leaving businesses in the dark. 

The solution is an option where businesses can measure user information anonymously, with new methodology that maintains regulation compliance, while giving businesses vital consumer insights. 

Data Collection in a Post-Cookie World
Source: InfoTrust