NSA- Who is it really hurting????

NSA- Who is it really hurting????

A recent story by The Washington Post reports that the National Security Agency gathers millions of email addresses and instant messaging contacts each year of Americans. This is part of the information that Edward Snowden leaked. The information leaked states that on one day, January, 10, 2012, the NSA gathered nearly 700,000 digital address books; more than half were from Yahoo. Two high ranking US intelligence officials did not deny the program gathers millions of Americans data, but they did say Americans do not have to worry because NSA analysts can only use data from foreign intelligence targets.  The way it works is the information is gathered outside of the United States along main data transfer routes controlled by telecommunications companies that are not located in the US. Google, Facebook and Microsoft all deny knowing about this data collection according to The Washington Post. The NSA announced last week that it applied for was approved to continue with bulk collection of telephony metadata.

Okay, so what does this mean for you and me? Let’s be realistic, the NSA has been watching and listening since the agency started. This is nothing new. The recent news has shocked people, but only because the public was deaf to what the agency did. So, the NSA knows all my contacts, knows I chat with my husband at work, as long as they promise not to tell my boss, I’m okay with that. I think I would be more worried if Edward Snowden would have opened a Private Detective Agency with the information he has. What would be more shocking to know the NSA has your contact list and monitors who you chat with, call, etc… or having a rogue agent spill the beans to your wife about the chats you have with your high school girlfriend? Which one is more devastating to the average American? Most Americans do not have State secrets. But most Americans do have secrets. As long as there is not a story about an NSA analyst spreading stories like the neighborhood gossip, I think we are okay.

BUT…… how does this story hurt American businesses? When I goggled, “NSA news hurting marketing” there was numerous stories about how foreign businesses cannot trust American businesses now, because of the power the NSA has. In one story, Google has claimed its reputation has been hurt by the NSA. Yahoo and Facebook have made those claims as well. The Pew Research Center states that nine in ten people try to mask their identity now, and 57% of online users were worried about privacy in July and that is up from 48% in July (Davis, 2013). If people are more paranoid about liking pages on Facebook, or not filling out all of demographic questions on a website, this could hurt businesses by not finding the people you want to market to. For example, on Facebook and Yahoo your location is shared with advertisers, but if consumers become more paranoid about sharing their information, maybe consumers will not share their location, therefore limiting the advertisers wanting to find people in a certain location. If a company sells surfboards, the greatest opportunity to sell surfboards is not going to be in Kansas and Nebraska, but it will be to people in California and Hawaii.

So, as an individual I do not care that the NSA knows I chat with my husband at work, and that I am friends with more than one of my ex-boyfriends on Facebook, but as a marketer I should be worried, because the NSA is making it harder for me to find people I want to sell stuff too!!! Therefore hurting the American economy!!! 

Sources:

Berkman, F. (2013, October 15). Report: NSA Gathers Millions of Email and IM Contact Lists. Retrieved October 20, 2013, from Mashable.com: http://mashable.com/2013/10/15/nsa-email-contact-lists/

Davis, W. (2013, September 9). Google: NSA Reports Hurt Our Reputation. Retrieved October 20, 2013, from The Daily Online Examiner: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/208762/google-nsa-reports-hurt-our-reputation.html#axzz2iJTEHRO2