Data privacy/governance analogies sought
September 11, 2017 5:39 PM Subscribe
I'm writing about data governance, data leakage, data compliance (GDPR flavour) and similar stuff. I'm trying to give my client a choice of analogies to make the issues seem less distant and more urgent. When it comes to data leakage, for example, one analogy might be that of a formal event ruined by a bunch of party crashers. Who wants that? Nobody. So privacy nerds, marketing wonks, word wizards: got any suggestions?
Something along the lines of 'airing your dirty laundry'? Like, unexpected visitor sees your dirty washing lying around the house.
Sibling or schoolmates reading your (childhood) diary.
posted by yesbut at 2:28 AM on September 12, 2017
Sibling or schoolmates reading your (childhood) diary.
posted by yesbut at 2:28 AM on September 12, 2017
"Hey, you know how Equifax is in the news right now? Yeah."
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:18 AM on September 12, 2017
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:18 AM on September 12, 2017
No analogies needed.
Privacy breaches are a risk to customer trust. You are in a competitive marketplace. Your customers will go elsewhere if they hate you. And then they'll sue you in long and expensive class actions. And then the regulators will fine you, and under GDPR they can take a lot of your money away. And then your shareholders will sue you.
[examples]
It costs less to build decent security and privacy processes, and it's a lot less trouble in the long run. So do that.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:32 PM on September 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Privacy breaches are a risk to customer trust. You are in a competitive marketplace. Your customers will go elsewhere if they hate you. And then they'll sue you in long and expensive class actions. And then the regulators will fine you, and under GDPR they can take a lot of your money away. And then your shareholders will sue you.
[examples]
It costs less to build decent security and privacy processes, and it's a lot less trouble in the long run. So do that.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:32 PM on September 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: But one analogy I have heard is personal data as 'the new oil'. It's valuable, everyone wants it, and if you spill it, it causes massive damage and cleanup is very expensive.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:33 PM on September 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:33 PM on September 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Privacy professional here. Nearly all agencies have consumer trust as a core resource. Trust is hard to build and easy to lose, it's like a bubble. Data breaches can pop the bubble and have far reaching consequences that are difficult and expensive to walk back from.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:25 PM on September 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 3:25 PM on September 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
A valuable resource for questions like this is The Analogies Project.
posted by mononoaware at 5:27 AM on September 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mononoaware at 5:27 AM on September 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
In the past I've taken the tack of talking to people about data protection issues that affect them personally. E.g. How do you feel if your phone number is passed on to insurance scammers who call you at inconvenient times?
There are loads of stories in the news about data breaches. Equifax is one of these. Talk about the effect on the company.
I'd avoid using analogy and talk about the issue directly.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 10:29 PM on September 11, 2017 [1 favorite]