One of the reasons behind Amazon’s colossal growth in the era of ecommerce is the amount of data it collects on its users, from their previous purchases to their current preferences.
The information for the most part is collected through the company’s largest source, its 200 million Prime subscribers.
Data from users is collected through smart devices including the Ring doorbell, Kindle e-reader, Echo smart speakers and its huge marketplace.
Third party companies also make use of Amazon’s algorithm to target ads.
A recent report from The Guardian revealed that Amazon devices can store a user’s name, address, orders and even instructions given to Alexa devices.
A BBC journalist found out that Alexa had stored the transcriptions of all 31,082 interactions his family ever had with the device.
“From this information, Amazon can work out where you work, where you live, how you spend your leisure time, and who your family and friends are,” Data protection consultant Rowenna Fielding told MSN.
The level of insight that the data gives Amazon is quite remarkable. It can even reveal a user’s religion, politics, culture, and even economic status.
The popular Kindle e-reader data can reveal what you read, how fast you read it, and even the parts you highlight.
Information and privacy law specialist Will Richmond-Coggan also said that an Amazon customer should assume that any piece of information that it willingly shares with Amazon will also automatically be known to its other entities as well.
Amazon has sought to ease fears over its use of data by and claims that it uses all this data only to improve and enhance user experience and that it is “thoughtful about the information we collect.”
Source: chargedretail.co.uk | George Iddenden