Big Data may know more about you than, well... YOU!

Big Data may know more 

about you than, well... YOU!

Most people like to get freebies and discounts. They’re even willing to give up a little privacy in exchange. 

Jennifer (not her real name) was no different. 

And it got her into some real hot water.

For Jen, it started off so innocently. 

She had worked hard at her summer job and saved up enough money for a new iPod. 

She scanned the “back to school” fliers and found out that Target had the best price in town.

What made it even better was that the store was right on the way to her high school. She and her friends sometimes even hung out there after classes.

So she took $200 of her summer savings (10 neatly folded twenty dollar bills) and stuffed them in her front pants pocket. 

Then she headed down to the store, whistling and skipping along the way. 

Inside the store, her wide eyes carefully pored over the showcase of mp3 players. She finally settled on a pretty, purple iPod touch (her favorite color) and took it to the checkout stand. 

Nervously she pulled the money out of her jeans. She fidgeted as she waited her turn. It was the biggest purchase she’d ever made.

“Do you have your Target card?” asked the clerk. 

“No. Do I need one?” replied Jennifer cautiously.

“You don’t need one, but we can give you another 10% off your purchase today if you apply right now.”

The deal seemed too good to pass up. An extra $20 in her pocket just for giving up her name and address. What a deal!

Jennifer quickly filled out the form and signed the bottom without reading all the fine print. That was her first mistake.

But it didn’t seem like a mistake at the time. In fact, Jen was ecstatic. She even bragged to her friends how she’d gotten her brand new iPod for such a great deal.

They thought it was cool, too.

And as the Fall semester rolled along, Jennifer was even happier with her decision.

Target started sending her coupon booklets twice a month right to her home. 

She was amazed how all the coupons seemed to match exatcly what she wanted. 

In October she used one of the coupons to buy some purple Skullcandy Ink'd earbuds for her new iPod. 

And in November she bought a “Love 87” T-shirt using the coupons Target sent her. 

Her social life was improving too. Since she had money to buy cool stuff, more kids at school started paying attention to her. Boys too.

Life was good. At least for a while.

It wasn’t until after Christmas break that the problems began.

The first coupon flier Target sent to Jennifer’s home in 2012 had a picture of a crib on it. It announced the biggest “baby bedding” sale of the year. 

The next coupon filer featured baby strollers on the front.

But it wasn’t until the third coupon booklet came with a promotion for maternity clothes that Jennifer’s dad got involved.

Outraged, he stormed into the Target store and demanded to see the manager.

Waving the coupon flier in front of the manger’s face, he demanded an explanation. 

According to a Target employee who witnessed the confrontation, the angry father said:

“My daughter got this in the mail! She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? What’s going on? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”

The manager looked at the mailer, cringed, and apologized.

Indeed the flier was addressed to the man’s daughter and featured coupons for maternity clothes and other baby items. 

A few days later, the store manager decided to call and apologize one more time. His hope was to keep Jen’s dad as a customer. 

Instead he got a big shock.

 “I had a talk with my daughter,” Jennifer’s dad said in a much less combative tone. 

“It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe YOU an apology.”

Whoa!

The NY Times broke the story earlier this year. (we dramatized it, but it IS a true story).

So how does Target know a girl is pregnant before her own father? 

Two words: 

Big Data

That’s the new catchphrase for the growing pile of electronic data that litters databases and fills up hard drives each day.

Some of the information is personal. Some is generic. Altogether, it’s becoming a gold mine for those who can make sense of it.

Sifting through this data to find meaning and predict behaviors is the next frontier in artificial intelligence.

Coupon targeting (like Target did) which tries to anticipate a customer’s needs is just the tip of the iceberg.

Andrew Pole is the Target statistician who came up with the computer algorithm that predicted Jennifer’s pregnancy.

He took years of buying pattern data from known pregnant women and programmed it into a computer routine.

The computer sniffed every purchase made at Target to see if it matched the patterns he identified. 

A few of Jennifer’s purchases in early Fall caught the computer’s attention. 

When her purchases continued to fit into the pattern of a pregnant woman, Target’s central system flagged her as pregnant...  and began mailing the baby coupons.

Depending upon how you look at it... 

Big Data Sounds Either 

Really Cool or Kinda Creepy

Marketers tend to think Big Data is awesome. It makes their job of targeting responsive buyers much more efficient.

For a consumer, getting relevant coupons can also make life easier...

But some things (like pregnancy) can be very sensitive topics. Marketers will need to use discretion if they don’t want to scare off potential customers. 

Even Target agrees. “If we send someone a catalog and say, ‘Congratulations on your first child!’ and they’ve never told us they’re pregnant, that’s going to make some people uncomfortable,” said a Target spokesman.

No kidding! 

Of course it’s not just large chain stores mining your personal data.

Big Data Is Part of 

Every Aspect of Your Life

Unless you live out in the woods and off the grid (not a bad idea, by the way) ... Big Data has its eye on you.

Think of all the things that keep track of you:

• surveillance cameras in stores 

• websites you visit 

• vehicles you license

• electronics you register

• taxes you file

• internet searches you make

• credit and debit cards you use

• loyalty shopping cards

• cell phone calls & text messages

• etc. etc., etc.

Many people don’t even realize how willingly they give up their (so-called) right to privacy.  

For example, Facebook can use any post you make for its marketing purposes ... even after you delete your account. (Read the fine print!)

Other times, the data is used in ways you might not expect. Or by people who shouldn’t have it.

For example, in late August 2012 a group of hackers reported they had broken into an FBI agent’s laptop and found a database with over 12 million Apple customers. 

The database had the unique device ID paired up with a name, address, phone number, zip code and other personal information.

Why the government had this info, where they got it and how they were using it is unclear.  The hackers claim the FBI was using the info to track the owners.

The FBI, of course, denies any involvement, even though the hacker group released 1 million of the Apple IDs to warn these iPod users they were being watched.

And frankly, it’s hard to know if the FBI having such data or hackers having it poses a greater risk.

The Future of Big Data

Love it or hate it, Big Data is going to be a big part of the future. And it is quickly making the type of privacy we’ve enjoyed in the past, well... a thing of the past.

It’s almost like living in a small town again. You know, where everyone knows everything about everyone.