As Doc Searls so expertly explained in his article “Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica problems are nothing compared to what’s coming for all of online publishing“, we are at a probable beginning of the end of tracking-based advertising as we know it.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is also a proverbial “canary in a coal mine” for advertisers as well. Has your organization considered the ramifications of using the data taken from users without their understanding or control? As the issues surrounding tracking-based advertising expand in the media, it will inevitably expand to not only include the publishers profiting from the technology, but also the companies spending money to use the technology to their own benefit and profit.
As @JohnnyRyan‘s Twitter thread from Doc Searls article said:
And advertisers, who pay for all of this, must start to demand that safe, non-personal data take over in online RTB targeting. RTB works without personal data. Brands need to demand this to protect themselves – and all Internet users too.
It’s time to ask important questions inside your organization such as: how does the adtech we are using for our marketing collect its user data? Are we comfortable with the data they have collected and how they are using it?
Just as you should know what data is being taken from you and your Internet activities, we should also understand what data we are using to send our ads out into cyberspace.
Scott Elliott 