Targeted advertising: privacy debate heats up
Under the headline ‘Doubts rise over ISP ad targeting’, theage.com.au has reported a major groundswell of resistance to new technologies from companies like NebuAd, Phorm and Front Porch.
The systems offer ISPs ‘free money’ for facilitating targeted advertising using analysis of their IP stream. According to the article, privacy concerns have sparked a backlash that is scaring US broadband providers away from the new revenue opportunity.
In Australia, CSP Central thinks the position is even starker for ISPs. In certain situations, operation of the systems will be a criminal offence.
Age article is news on the Net
Google the phrase ‘A slow-building privacy storm moved in on NebuAd’ and you’ll find that this Associated Press syndicated story has spread far and wide.
That means that privacy advocates and government are sure to be well aware of it.
Quoting the article: Annmarie Sartor, a spokeswoman for broadband provider CenturyTel, said the company was ready to proceed [with NebuAd, following a successful technical trial] until ‘Congress started questioning privacy.’
That reflects the degree of traction the issue has achieved.
Without proper opt-in consent, NebuAd would be illegal in Australia
We explained this in a post back in July 2008.
We still believe that this area should be regulated under the same privacy laws as apply to other business activities. A separate Telco Act privacy regime isn’t appropriate, or efficient, any more.
Maybe NebuAd, Phorm and Front Porch services would fall foul of the general privacy law, too. We’d never argue that they should get an exemption from the normal law. Only that normal privacy law should be the controlling law for them as well as business generally.
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