Data Mining

Do you feel that data mining infringes on your privacy or is data mining a natural part of living in a technologically enabled, connected environment? You may include personal or professional examples or opinions here.

Data mining is definitely a privacy concern for many consumers. Personally, I don’t have a problem with organizations using the data to make my life as a consumer easier. In the example of Kroger’s data mining, everything they were doing made the shopper’s trip to the store easier. I go to Safeway for shopping and use their rewards card. I get emails from them periodically that let me know that something that I buy is on sale. I find that extremely helpful. I think that data mining is now a natural part of living.

How do you think data mining helps consumers and organizations? Please focus your response on the organizational uses of data here.

Data mining helps organizations better serve their consumers. Keeping track of a consumers habits and using that to make their experience more enjoyable benefits the organization and the consumer. The consumer is happier with the service they are receiving. A happy consumer will come back to spend more money with the organization.

How do you think data mining harms consumers and organizations? Please focus your response on the organizational uses of data.

I think data mining can be harmful if used in the wrong ways. For example, if the organization is selling the data they have collected to other organizations, that benefits the data collector, not the consumer. I see this a lot when someone is raffling off a car at the mall. They take a lot of personal data and maybe someone wins a car but a lot of people will start getting phone calls, letter, or emails from companies that they have never dealt with.