Data minimization.... storing and purging

News stories of data security breaches suggest that large amounts of detailed customer data can become liabilities for companies. "Data minimization" is a concept which seeks to balance company and marketer needs for detailed customer data on the one hand, with privacy and data security concerns on the other hand. Of course, one of the difficulties becomes knowing what to keep and what to toss.... and when. Wharton marketing professors Eric Bradlow and Peter Fader discussed the concept of data minimization at the Wharton Information Security Best Practices Conference and their research is summarized in a recent Knowledge@Wharton article, "Time for a Data Diet? Deciding What Customer Information to Keep -- and What to Toss"