Are product companies really data companies?
The default for most companies is to collect and save as much data as possible about customers, but what does that mean for privacy?
It used to be the case that companies would collect data - about customers or their own operations - for a specific purpose. The end. In an age of Big Data, however, the default is to scoop up as much data as possible and hold onto it, even if it has no intended purpose...yet.
Viktor Mayer-Schonberger wrote the book on Big Data. No really, along with Kenneth Cukier he wrote a book called Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think. In this interview, he explains how hoovering up all that data produces surprising insights and new revenue streams, and what it means for privacy.