This week we discuss targeted advertising, its role in the development of the commercial internet, and how it affects users today.

We explore the varying attitudes to the practice of targeted advertising, its benefits and harms, and regulatory measures being considered to curb its excesses.

Links:

$20m ACCC penalty for Meta https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/20m-penalty-for-meta-companies-for-conduct-liable-to-mislead-consumers-about-use-of-their-data

ACMA fine for CBA over spam https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2023-06/commonwealth-bank-penalised-355-million-spam-breaches

ACMA fine for mycar Tyre and Auto over spam https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2023-06/mycar-tyre-auto-penalised-1m-spam-breaches

ACCC data brokers inquiry https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-invites-views-on-data-broker-industry

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (EFF) https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence

Article about the internet's grand bargain (HBR) https://hbr.org/2018/04/gdpr-and-the-end-of-the-internets-grand-bargain

SalingerPrivacy blog on targeted advertising risks https://www.salingerprivacy.com.au/2023/08/01/media-and-marketing-industry-blog/

Katherine Kemp article on targeted advertising (The Conversation) https://theconversation.com/proposed-privacy-reforms-could-help-australia-play-catch-up-with-other-nations-but-they-fail-to-tackle-targeted-ads-200166

Meta argument in favour of targeted advertising (The Australian) https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/targeting-helps-protect-kids-from-agerestricted-ads-says-meta-head-of-policy-melinda-claybaugh/news-story/fd9f41778b983861d55fb254e3932215

Ad industry argument in favour of targeted advertising (The Australian) https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/sacrificing-personalised-advertising-on-the-altar-of-privacy-is-not-the-answer/news-story/8a66403cda7ae0dcc602a1067790614b

FTC paper on targeted advertising https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/brief-primer-economics-targeted-advertising/economic_issues_paper_-_economics_of_targeted_advertising.pdf

Credits:

Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) eastcoaststudio.com.au

Music by Bensound.com