Problem & Context

            Over the last few decades, many everyday activities have begun to migrate to the digital platform. Tasks that were once done within a physical medium can now be completed on a singular interface: the Internet. The Internet keeps everything and everyone interconnected, whether it be through social media, networking devices, online applications, or some other means of connection. With this, there are thousands upon millions of gigabytes of data uploaded to and transferred over the Internet each day, all from unique individuals. This leads to the issue surrounding data and information privacy, and that is the fact that individuals are losing control over what happens to their data once it is placed into the Internet. This is especially so with the existence of websites that aggregate pieces of data about an individual into a record to ultimately sell to “anyone willing to pay for them” (FTC). These are known as “people search”, or “people finder”, websites. The problem with these types of websites is that everyone is automatically consenting to the collection and distribution of this data unless manually stated otherwise, even though they never gave explicit consent to this. Data that is included, but not limited to, in these reports are names, ages, gender, history of addresses, marital status, property purchases, education, employment history, and names of family members. While this provides individuals, including potential strangers, unsolicited access to personal information about someone, it also poses as a potential danger to individuals. For example, buying information from data brokers, such as the hosts of these websites, can lead to instances of stalking, domestic violence, identity theft, murder, or other life-threatening outcomes.

Solution

            Because of the severity of the data privacy issues that follow these people search websites, I propose a solution to help individuals gain more control over their personal information. This solution focuses on helping individuals effectively opt out of these data collecting services, ensuring that their privacy is more protected. It will be an affordable subscription service with either a free or low monthly payment to allow us to give them more choice regarding the sites that handle their data. Specifically, we will list the people search websites that collect consumer data, and as part of the monthly subscription we will offer, we will ensure that the customer’s forced compliance with these websites is revoked and that it remains just so. Additionally, we will give our customer periodic updates regarding if their data has been reuploaded to these websites, and proceed to remove it if it is. Because these data brokers not only find information about a person based on their individual Internet whereabouts, but also through their friends and families as well, we will also provide family plans that the customer may subscribe to so that we can help protect them even further. While there will be a paid service, there will also be information that customers may freely access. Within our website, we will provide information regarding the most common data brokers, as well as information about opting out of these services. There will also be a free trial period in which our customers may try out our services for a limited time to allow them to decide if they want to move onto the paid subscription.

Barriers

            Some of the barriers we can expect to confront in this endeavor is funding, competition, advertisement, and trust. Often, one of the most difficult parts of starting a business is taking the first step forward, which is creating a plan and locating the funds to carry out the plan. Without this, an idea remains just as it is; an idea. If we want to fund this project, we will have to convince our potential customers that our services are a worthwhile investment that will benefit a majority, and for that we need to establish trust. With any business, it is important that the organization delivers what is promised in an effective manner. When customers are given what they paid for and are pleased with the results, the business earns a positive reputation. However, how do people know if a newly created company will fulfill their promises in both an efficient and ethical manner? This is one major barrier that we will need to leap over if we want to become a successful business. Of course, there are other services similar to ours that potential customers may opt for instead. This is where potential competition may arise. This is something that we have taken into consideration, and in response, we are going to ensure that our business provides what no other does. We are going to provide extensive information for our customers, as well as a large list of data broker websites we are going to work with to provide the strongest data protection possible for our customers, among other unique features. Once our business begins to see potential, the next obstacle would be advertisement and marketing. While our services are marketed toward anyone and everyone who wishes to secure their data privacy, it is important that we consider the populous that would benefit the most from our services, and thus would be more likely to subscribe. Therefore, we need to consider the areas that these groups of individuals will frequent the most so that we can attract them.

Assessment

            One of the primary ways we can assess how successful our business has become is documenting and reviewing statistics regarding individuals who have subscribed to our services. Not only can we assess the demographics regarding this information and how we can better address our customers, we can also see what percentage of individuals became subscribers to our services and remained subscribers. If a large percentage of our customers subscribed and did not cancel after the first payment period, we can gather that our business is successful. On the other hand, if a large percentage decide they do not want to remain subscribed after experiencing our services, then we can use that information and decide how to improve our services. A longer-term assessment of the effectiveness of our services may also include viewing statistics regarding instances of identity theft caused by data brokers. If, in the case of our business becoming popular, that the rate in which these crimes successfully take place, that can indicate that our efforts are working, and online data is becoming more secure.

Reference(s)

Federal Trade Commission. “What to Know About People Search Sites That Sell Your Information.” Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice, July 2022, https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-people-search-sites-sell-your-information#:~:text=People%20search%20sites%2C%20also%20known,willing%20to%20pay%20for%20them.

Safire, William. “Nosy Parker Lives.” The New York Times, 23 Sept. 1999, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/safire/092399safi.html.

U.S. Department of Justice. “Identity Theft.” Justice, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/identity-theft/identity-theft-and-identity-fraud.