Let's not worry about advertisers collecting data, but rather how they are protecting data

Last week, I explained why it doesn't bother me that advertisers track my browsing behavior in order to personalize my web experience. They claim to have no intention of using the data for any purpose outside of selling. The basis for this partly hinges on the fact that the tracking software assigns random numbers as identities and does not use our real names, email addresses, SSNs, etc. 

The problem, however, is that it becomes pretty easy to link these randomly assigned numbers to personally identifiable information ("PII") once a little bit of browsing data is collected. The advertisers, and their data collecting vendors, therefore have a responsibility to protect this data. While they may not care to link the number to PII, hackers surely will. As such, the concerns should not be on the fact that advertisers collect and leverage data to make sales, but rather on the security measures they have in place to protect the data that's collected.

Let's face it - the collection of data for the purpose of targeted advertising is not going anywhere. We shouldn't be concerned that it's happening because it is being collected for the purpose of selling more effectively. There's nothing wrong with that. More effective selling leads to more successful businesses, resulting in more jobs, a growing GDP, and ultimately a better average quality of life for everyone. All good things.

Let's instead shift the conversation to ensuring that the vendors collecting the data on behalf of advertisers are properly protected from hackers and external threats that could compromise the information and use it maliciously. The ability to protect this data is there, as evidenced by a large, growing cybersecurity market underpinned by tons of innovation and more investment than ever before. Let's make sure that our advertisers, and by default their technology vendors, are devoting enough resources to securing the data that they collect.