Consumer profiling may be ethical if it results in beneficence for the group being studied (i.e., prior studies that concentrated on a source of infection in a designated area), or it can be unethical if it results in nothing but big profits for the big data broker, using somebody else' personal data. Consumer profiling at the grocery store, at least results in a quid pro quo, but consumer profiling in general, results in nothing valuable gained, at the loss of your personal data - for which you get nothing in exchange. Consumer profiling data that is scoffed up by the government is a reminder of Big Brother!
The third participation assignment concerns consumer profiling! The attached article "What do firms know about you? FTC would pull back the curtain," by Craig Timberg from the Washington Post of 5-28-14 has some details. There are three questions of ethical interest:
• What is your take on consumer profiling?
• Should consumers be able to totally "opt-out" of consumer profiling - would a law be helpful?
• Should consumers be able to correct erroneous data, held by brokers?