Analyzing the Ethical Dilemma between Protecting Consumer Privacy and Marketing Customer Data

Abstract

Rapid transformation in marketing information technologies has enabled corporations to build ample consumer databases and analyze those using sophisticated data-mining techniques to obtain extensive knowledge about those consumers’ personal life styles and private matters. Considering that the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has relied on fair information principles to guide privacy regulation and left it relatively unregulated, the burden of practicing consumer privacy lies mostly on the marketers who have to follow ethical behavior and maintain consumer privacy. In this paper the authors analyze the ethical nature of corporate decision making on matters of selling consumer data using the normative theories of business ethics and suggests approaches that balance the corporate goals of raising financial gains with the obligations they have to their stakeholders – mainly their customers. The authors also discuss the challenges faced in carrying out the analysis. Analyzing the Ethical Dilemma between Protecting Consumer Privacy and Marketing Customer Data