#75 Targeted advertising - the internet's grand bargain or its original sin?

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