With the rise of new technology and ever increasing social utilities, one might wonder about the privacy issues which may arise. Is it okay for corporations to collect private information or monitor the activities of customers through various marketing strategies? For example, companies use Air Miles point cards to monitor the type of groceries one purchases, when they purchase it and how they paid for the transaction at Safeway. An interesting video shows just how convenient (or scary) this could look like in the future:

By collecting information about purchasing habits of the target consumers, companies hope to increase sales and create a long lasting relationship with their customers. However, is there an upper bound as to what information or data a company can collect from its clients? How much information is considered too much and would be considered as an invasion of privacy?

It is said that Database Marketing has been the cause of privacy issues in the field of marketing. This type of marketing is most relevant because is employs statistical techniques to harvest data from customer groups and creates models to illustrate this behaviour. Social networking sites like Facebook have friend suggestions for you, all of which are people you know. Public utilities such as Google Maps are definitely very convenient for locating addresses, but it may lead one to wonder what little privacy is left in our everyday lives. A really interesting article reveals that a large company such as Target or Walmart can actually find out one is pregnant before one even finds out oneself, through analysis of buying habits and cravings. We are in the informational age now, where almost everyone has access to as much information as they desire. We must do our part to ensure the ethical usage of all the information we create and collect.