Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Online behavioural advertising "involves tracking consumers' online activities, across sites and over time in order to deliver advertisements targeted to their inferred interests." Directed at children, it can be especially effective. This has led a mixed group of individuals and agencies mostly based in the U.K. to write an open letter calling for "an end to behavioural ads to those individuals platforms know are – or are identified as – under 18." The write, "There is no justification for targeting teenagers with personalised ads any more than there is for targeting 12-year-olds."  In Canada, the Privacy Commissioner recommends behavioural advertising not be extended to forms of tracking that cannot be controlled by individuals, and also that it not be extended to children. "It is hard to argue that young children could meaningfully consent to such practices, and the profiling of youngsters to serve them online behaviourally targeted ads seems inappropriate in such circumstances." Image: FTC.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 05:09 a.m.

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