Abstract
Internet-connected devices are ubiquitous in today’s world, and behavioural, or “targeted,” advertising is incorporated in many of them. Through the tracking of individuals’ connected activities, online behavioural advertising (OBA) delivers advertisements targeted to an individual user based on sophisticated monitoring of demonstrated interests and activities. The increasingly complex thorough analysis of consumers’ online behavioural data takes place across platforms, potentially on every connected device. The biopolitical implications of constant behavioural tracking and analysis are substantial. Although a core process behind OBA appeared on a Google-backed patent application as early as 2003, there currently exist no consistently and successfully enforced regulations to inform businesses, consumers, and courts of the specific acceptable latitude and limits of targeted marketing. As advances in technology allow alarmingly more accurate behavioural targeting and consumers spend even more time online post-pandemic, it will be crucial from an economic and human rights perspective to follow a common and enforceable legal framework for OBA. After a brief technical overview of the OBA landscape and its ethical and biological risks, this paper examines the relevant legal framework in the EU, Canada, and the US. Next, it reviews some of the most significant regulatory hurdles to OBA regulation. Drawing on recent EU activity as well as the primarily self-regulatory approach of the US, the paper then suggests potential solutions to the seemingly overwhelming challenges of moderating the effects of OBA on global society.
Presenters
Susan Hayes StephanAssociate Dean, Graduate and Online Programs, NSU Shepard Broad College of Law, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Tracking, Data, Privacy, Security, Behavioural, Behavioral, Targeting, Advertising, Free Will
