Informed or uninformed consent?

The increasing use of social networks as a source of data in marketing research has raised questions as to the extent to which researchers have consent from individuals to use data. A 2013 paper by Nunan and Yenicoglu in the International Journal of Market Research18 argues that many social networks actively seek a form of uninformed consent when users of these services agree to privacy policies. Such privacy policies appear commercially fair, but they also encourage a culture of information sharing. In this case the penalty is a reduction of value derived from the social graph and less utility from the site overall. The label ‘uninformed consent’ is used because while these policies provide a form of legal protection for the service, they do not inform the user of the service of the full range of potential uses. Read the consent policies for the social networks highlighted in the table below and judge for yourself whether you think these could be classified as ‘informed consent’:

New EU-data protection laws and marketing research

One of the most significant current events that has the potential to impact market research is the development of a new European data protection policy. The new laws are due to take effect in 2018. They are important for two reasons. Firstly, data protection law is the most significant regulatory factor that impacts the day-to-day operation of marketing research. Many existing data protection laws were drafted before the use of the internet became widespread and are generally agreed to be ineffective in the light of technological advances and the corresponding change in uses of data. Secondly, these changes herald the start of a pan-European data protection policy. Given the interconnected nature of internet data, what impacts Europe has broader implications throughout the world, and many countries outside the EU are looking to adopt the European model of data protection. ESOMAR summarises the changes as follows.
European citizens get a whole set of new rights that market, opinion, and social research agencies and research clients alike will need to cater for. Ranging from a right to be forgotten, a right to object to profiling activities, a strengthened right to prior notification before data collection, a right to data portability, European citizens now have – more than ever – a right to know before, during and after you collect their data. These requirements will need to be incorporated into business practices if they are not already.
Another important development focusses on profiling, one of the most hotly contested points in the reform. Any profiling that may have a significant or legal effect on an individual has been banned by the reform, and in all cases European citizens have a right to object, including research. This may create a need to adapt how sampling activities are conducted as they would likely fall under the broad definition of profiling adopted by the negotiators.
In addition to rights for consumers, the new legislation could apply to any company collecting data on EU citizens – regardless of where they are based in the world. This has important implications for many US internet firms that serve EU-based customers, which will now need to follow the legislation rather than less stringent US laws. As part of the process of developing the legislation there was also a considerable amount of lobbying by professional research associations to ensure that legitimate research activity was not treated in the same way as direct marketing. Full details of the legislation and the role of ESOMAR in the process of developing legislation is available at the following address: https://www.esomar.org/utilities/news-multimedia/news.php?idnews=195