Acknowledging that data is in essence a form of currency in the marketing operation, and that the business case for maintaining detailed customer profiles is compelling, Frank nonetheless urged privacy officers to involve themselves in the development of any data-collection program. By speaking on behalf of the consumers, in-house privacy advocates could challenge their marketing counterparts to implement reasonable limitations on their data-collection efforts, setting caps on how long data would be retained and minimizing the gathering of personally identifiable information, for example.

The "best thing privacy officers can do is bring the customer's voice into the marketing process," he said. "What marketing really needs on this stuff is a conscience."

in CIO's Government Drilldown.