CHAPTER 8: COMPARISONS – PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIVITY
Private sector activity
How private companies operate
8.65.
It is barely possible to engage in everyday social and economic activity without
consenting to the handover of private information to private companies and at that
point losing some control over how it is used.
8.66.
Service providers, (particularly online social networks), retailers and others hold vast
amounts of commercially valuable data about individuals, which can be monetised in
a host of ways, such as credit reference checks and targeted advertising on the
internet.1
8.67.
Services which are free to customers on the internet are generally paid for by the
ability of companies to exploit the data that the customer’s interaction with them
creates: everything from buying habits to location and movement and social
preferences. For example:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
(a)
Google combines data from a range of sources to display advertising most likely
to generate advertising revenue. Google’s online terms of service state “Our
automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you
personally relevant product features, such as customized search results,
tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as
the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.”2 Sources can include a
user’s IP address, Google and Youtube profiles, Google search engine results,
Google map requests and apps belonging to businesses which advertise with
Google. Google offer their “partners”3 a number of products to help manage
their advertising and websites, including “Adsense, Adwords, Google Analytics
and a range of DoubleClick-branded services”.4
(b)
According to Facebook’s 2015 Data Policy it “shares” information about users
“within the family of companies that are part of Facebook”.5 This may be done
to “facilitate, support and integrate their activities.”6 There are currently ten
companies listed in the family, including Whatsapp, Instagram and Atlas (an
advertising platform, aimed at helping companies track the effectiveness of
online ads).
Facebook’s Audience Network programme provides app
developers with aggregated data to target their ads. “Facebook Services” are
also covered by this Data Policy and include Services such as “Audience
Insights”. This service is designed to provide businesses with information about
the “geography, demographics and purchasing behaviour and more”7 of their
target audiences. In March 2015, Facebook launched Topic Data in the UK
“How Wireless Carriers are Monetizing Your Movements”, MIT Technology Review Website, 12 April
2013.
See http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/.
A list of partners is not provided, see http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/example/ourpartners.html.
See https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/technologies/ads/.
See https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.
See https://www.facebook.com/help/111814505650678.
See https://www.facebook.com/business/news/audience-insights.
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