Behavioral Targeting May Be Illegal
from the smells-like-wiretapping dept
A bunch of ISPs have been experimenting with systems such as Phorm and NebuAd that monitor their users' online behavior and create profiles that help third parties create more targeted advertisements. Back in March we noted that behavioral advertising may be illegal under UK law. And last week we reported that Congress was asking some tough questions about the plans. CNet's Declan Declan McCullagh has an in-depth look at American law, and concludes that such systems are probably illegal here too. The problem is that what Phorm and NebuAd do sounds a lot like wiretapping, and wiretapping is illegal under several federal laws. At least three federal laws govern when electronic communications providers can disclose their customers' communications to third parties. One of the key questions Declan looks at is consent: the law generally allows eavesdropping with customer consent, but the exact nature of the consent isn't clear. ISPs have tended to be very secretive about their use of these systems, so at the very least, privacy laws would require that ISPs disclose what they're doing and give consumers a way to opt out. But Declan suggests that this might not be sufficient. Some of the legal experts he talked to think the law would require the ISPs to obtain the affirmative consent of customers before commencing the use of these programs. Since it's hard to imagine customers being enthusiastic about having their ISPs eavesdrop on them, such a requirement might make these programs non-starters.
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Filed Under: behavioral targeting, clickstream data, privacy, wiretapping
Companies: nebuad, phorm
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Unless the ISP wants to cut me a break on my monthly bill. If it's a substantial rate cut, I'd jump all over it (and start tunneling most my traffic through a secure proxy, most likely).
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Re:
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I would change ISPs
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The customer has to be given the opportunity to opt-in after the "service" is fully explained to them.
That said, I doubt many people would opt-in which is why ISPs tend to want to wait till they get caught with their collective pants down. By then, of course, in terms of privacy it's too late.
ttfn
John
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http://www.custompcmax.com
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Click-through-agreements
Maybe I'm not fully aware of how this law would play out, but this doesn't seam like a major stumbling block to me. All an ISP would have to do, is bury the "agreement" within their standard "YOU MUST AGREE TO THIS TO USE OUR SERVICE" legal mumbo-jumbo.
Where I live I have two broadband providers (well, nine according to the FCC, but that's another story). If both of them make agreeing to this snooping as part of their service agreements, what choice would I have?
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Innovative Application
Ironically, I don't mind targeted advertising, what does bother me is the degree of intrusion and the arrogance of the advertisers.
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Ethics Issues abotu data usage
As human we automatically use information about people we know to improve our interaction with them. We talk to ojur wives, friends, parents and kids differently. Often we use information to manipulate people, target at their soft spots to get what we want.
The latter is of course not exactly moral or ethical. It is often difficult to differentiate between someone using our information to be nice to us or to manipulate us....and it is in this area that legislations may become vexatious and cumbersome.
Legislations if any should stay within the big areas like...do not murder, rape, steal,cheat...be a real nuisance. If legislations actually prevent computers from being more intelligent in interacting with humans, or in helping humans to interact better with each other, it would do the world a disservice.
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Ethics Issues about data usage
As human we automatically use information about people we know to improve our interaction with them. We talk to ojur wives, friends, parents and kids differently. Often we use information to manipulate people, target at their soft spots to get what we want.
The latter is of course not exactly moral or ethical. It is often difficult to differentiate between someone using our information to be nice to us or to manipulate us....and it is in this area that legislations may become vexatious and cumbersome.
Legislations if any should stay within the big areas like...do not murder, rape, steal,cheat...be a real nuisance. If legislations actually prevent computers from being more intelligent in interacting with humans, or in helping humans to interact better with each other, it would do the world a disservice.
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Internet Privacy? What a Concept!
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This will decrease usefulness of the internet!
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