Introduction
The issue of data market regulation has now become a controversial topic. On the one hand, some companies use data to make intelligent decisions that led to a revolution in the internet economy. On the other hand, sellers that provide data to organizations create an unsecured market situation in which people cannot control their consent to use personal data and sometimes do not know that their data is used for commercial purposes. This concern led to the establishment of acts and regulations from the governments, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (White). Authorities see that there is a violation of personal information, and they aim to protect the users.
Main body
It is suggested that there should be a clear line which companies should not cross if they want to collect the personal data of users and, at the same time, keep consumers’ trust at a high level (Shacklett). A study executed by Cisco stated that companies, to provide a high-quality shopping experience, need to “compare real-time customer information with historical data” (Christie). To achieve this, the organization should have access to the data market that ensures the usage of relevant data that can help companies to get loyal customers and increase their revenues. However, the largest companies in the world, such as Google or Facebook, have crossed the line too many times, which resulted in multi-million fines from regulatory authorities (Benes). The battle in the data market might get harsh if the proper policies are not executed to protect consumers.
Conclusion
One might claim that the data market should be regulated to the extent that companies that have access to the personal data of consumers have no incentives to monetize the data without the consent of people. The data is a valuable resource for actors in the data market that now considers information regulation as a significant challenge. Regulatory authorities are aiming to establish policies addressing data protection due to non-transparent activities of companies that led to data leakages, blackmailing people whose data was found on open sources, etc. (Benes). Thus, it can be suggested that the data market should be regulated to establish secured data collection, consumer control over that data consent, and increased transparency that ensures consumers’ trust.
References
Benes, Ross. “Government Regulation Is Chief Threat to Marketers’ Data-Driven Initiatives.” eMarketer, 2019.
Christie, Blair. “New Study Tells Retailers: Win Consumers’ Trust to Deliver the Hyper-Relevant Experiences They Want.” Cisco Blog, 2015.
Shacklett, Mary. “Balancing Profits and Customer Privacy when Monetizing Big Data and IoT.” ZDNet, 2015.
White, Charlie. “Introducing Fairness to the Data Marketplace: Privacy Regulation & Consumer Empowerment.” The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, 2019.