Real Privacy Concerns

Consumers are right to be worried about their privacy. Many people have applauded recent FTC efforts to increase protection of privacy by consumers as they surf the web. The new efforts seek to limit the data collected on consumers as they shop online.

However, an article earlier this year on an FCC blog highlights an even more insidious concern: wifi snooping. One example in the FCC article mentions how Google's "Street View" cars collected data from many unencrypted, unsecured wireless networks as it took images of streets for the map service it offers. People with unencrypted, unsecured home wireless networks are an easy target for snoopers to steal data from, while they are shopping or not, and whether they have selected preferences to not have websites collect their personal data, as the FTC is promoting, or not.

However, privacy concerns go even further. It used to be that only the "elite hackers" could do things such as wifi snooping, but Firesheep, a Firefox add on, gives this technology to the masses. E-Security Planet discusses this program and ways to protect yourself against it. Firesheep allows users to easily access any "secured" site that is accessed with a password, but which does not use HTTPS. HTTP is the old way to surf the web, modern users need to be aware of the difference. The S stands for secure, and HTTPS protects users against the cookie sniffing that Firesheep exploits to allow users to log in to other's accounts.

While users need to consider how online sites use data it collects on them, a much more pressing concern is the data that those passing through your network, or surfing on the same unsecured network as you, can collect. Anyone who uses the internet needs to strongly consider taking steps to protect themselves. He who lives in glass house should install shades.

This government guide provides several tips consumers can use to protect themselves. Take a moment to read it and to consider your online privacy and security before you login to anything you don't want your friends to log into as you, again.

"What has been will be again, 
   what has been done will be done again;
   there is nothing new under the sun."

-Ecclesiastes 1:9

Neuromarketing, "the application of neuroscience to marketing" (Roger Dooley, writing for NeuroScienceMarketing.com), is nothing new. Solomon predicted that. It has drawn increasing notice from consumers for two reasons. 

1. Technology is improving so marketers can collect even more neurotic data. 

2. Consumer paranoia is increasing along with a feeling that we have a right to our thoughts. 

But do consumers really have a right to privacy when it comes to actions taken subconsciously based on their thoughts? 

Even if researchers are denied access to the inner thoughts and chemical balances of consumers, they can obtain quite a bit of neurotic data by observing subconscious actions. 

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and their attention is of utmost importance to marketers. Juergen Bluhm published research results in 2008 showing the importance of location when it comes to catching the attention of the eyes.

His team used eye tracking equipment to create "gaze trails," showing where consumers looked, for how long, and in which way their eyes browsed the goods. Glances were measured in milliseconds, showing just how short a consumer's attention span can be. 

Adults tended to look at the upper shelves, but not the highest shelf. Children tended to look at lower shelves, most likely due to their lower height. They also looked significantly longer than adults, most likely due to the fact that the subject matter was a candy shelf. Had the researchers used tools, children might not have looked as long. Consumers tended to look at the center of the shelf and to the right. Both adults and children begin their gaze in the center of the shelf, near the middle of their looking area, then move their gaze to the top of the looking area before moving over to the right and continuing down to the bottom of their looking area. 

Their work shows how powerful this research can be, while remaining non invasive and completely confidential. Additionally, neuromarketing research can be done on paid subjects who submit to the research, then applied to those outside of the lab with fair results. 

As consumers, we should welcome and not fear neuromarketing, and avoid getting too neurotic about it.