Computer

How Much Consumer Data Collection is Too Much?
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How Much Consumer Data Collection is Too Much?
Data privacy is a real concern in the digital era. Most apps collect consumer data for purposes like ad targeting or customization of profiles (McKenna, Richardson & Thomson, 2012). Concerns about the level of data collection have never been as significant as they now are following the news that Cambridge Analytica was accessing personal data of not only consumers who had downloaded the personality prediction app but also friends of such consumers whose privacy setting allowed the access (He, Cai & Yu, 2018).
Collection of consumer data is a feature of most of the applications that users rely on for their day to day activities spanning from business to social interaction (Chen & Zhao, 2012). Most of these apps collect data that is considered to be too much data by consumers. However, there are no laws that explicitly state what level of consumer data collection is too much. Data privacy is still primarily controlled by sectorial laws that are based on the Fair Information Practice (He et al., 2018). Based on the data protection principles specified under the Fair Information Practice, the collection of information about consumers is too much collection if it entails the following.
If the collection of the information does not entail a stated purpose
If the collected data is not deleted even when it is no longer serves the purpose for which it was collected
If the collected information is disclosed to other individuals or organizations without express authorization of the law or consent of the person from whom the information was collected
When there is no mechanism for the people from whom information is collected to review the data to ensure privacy
When too sensitive information like sexual orientation is collected in the absence of any extreme condition that necessitates the collection of such information

References
McKenna, E., Richardson, I., & Thomson, M. (2012). Smart meter data: Balancing consumer privacy concerns with legitimate applications. Energy Policy, 41, 807-814.
He, Z., Cai, Z., & Yu, J. (2018). Latent-data privacy preserving with customized data utility for social network data. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 67(1), 665-673.
Chen, D., & Zhao, H. (2012, March). Data security and privacy protection issues in cloud computing. In Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (ICCSEE), 2012 International Conference on (Vol. 1, pp. 647-651). IEEE.