In the context of Information Technology Management, data is fundamentally treated as a critical organizational asset. A significant portion of this data, including intellectual property, trade secrets, financial records, and customer information, is proprietary, meaning it is owned by the organization and provides a competitive advantage. This data is also often confidential, with access restricted to authorized individuals to prevent unauthorized disclosure, comply with regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA), and protect privacy. Standard IT governance practices, such as data classification, exist specifically to manage and protect data based on its proprietary and confidential nature.

B. False: This is incorrect. To state that data is not often proprietary or confidential would contradict the core principles of data security, intellectual property law, and business strategy, where protecting sensitive information is paramount.

1. Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2020). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm (16th ed.). Pearson. In Chapter 8, "Securing Information Systems," the text explicitly discusses the need to protect "valuable proprietary information such as trade secrets, new product development plans, or marketing strategies" and "confidential personal and financial data" (p. 316).

2. University of California, Berkeley. (2023). Data Classification Standard. Berkeley Information Security Office. This official university standard outlines categories for data, including "Protection Level 3 (P3)" for data that is "highly sensitive" and whose unauthorized disclosure could have a severe adverse impact. This level includes "proprietary information" and other confidential data, demonstrating the formal recognition of this concept.

3. Tallon, P. P. (2013). Corporate governance of data: The case for a chief data officer. Proceedings of the 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 4991-5000. This academic paper emphasizes that data is a "critical organizational asset" that requires formal governance structures for its protection and management, inherently acknowledging its valuable, and thus often proprietary and confidential, status. (https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2013.155)