More data protection controversy again following US chain Walmart's buy out of the Facebook calendar application 'Social Calendar' earlier this month. Contrary to user expectations it seems that this data is being used by Walmart to extend and enhance their own marketing database raising yet more concerns regarding the use of social networking and other data obtained through unexpected or clandestine routes.
And it's not just Walmart that indulges in dubious data gathering practices as there are numerous, and in some instances well publicised, cases where companies have revealed confidential information based on purchasing patterns and other apparently covertly gathered data. The aggregation of datasets is currently a major topic for debate as quite often companies are able to extrapolate and extract personalised data from multiple, apparently anonymous, datasets using sophisticated software to correlate and cross filter the data. There have also been incidents where large anonymous datasets have been de-anonymised not long after release.
Given the commercial value of personalised datasets clearly these are issues that are not going away anytime soon.
'The Guardian' discusses the issues associated with this further here.
