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Meta's controversial ad-free subscription is facing scrutiny from EU privacy campaigners
A privacy group is fighting Meta's tactic of only allowing users to opt out of privacy tracking if they sign up for a subscription.
Meta's ad-free Instagram and Facebook plan could cost EU users nearly $17 per month
Meta may charge Instagram users in Europe a $14 per month subscription fee unless they opt in to targeted ads.
EU seeks to block political ads that target people's ethnicity or religion
Organizations would need to disclose how ads are paid for and how they are targeting certain groups.
Recommended Reading: Painful memories the algorithms won't let you forget
Recommended Reading highlights the week's best long-form writing on technology and more.
Google to settle YouTube child privacy violations for up to $200 million
Google will allegedly pay between $150 and $200 million to end the FTC investigation into whether YouTube violated a children's privacy law, Politico reported this afternoon. The FTC reportedly voted along party lines (3-2) to approve the settlement, which will now be reviewed by the Justice Department.
Facebook will be liable for future Cambridge Analytica-style scandals
Facebook is updating its terms and conditions after agreeing several changes with the EU. It will have to clearly explain to users they can access the social network for free because it uses targeted ads that rely on user data. Facebook will also have to disclose what revenues it generates through the use of such data.
Google targets ads at gamers who don’t make in-app purchases
If you're one of the few mobile gamers who actually spend money on in-app purchases, you might begin to see fewer ads. While developers make most of their money with advertising, in some cases, ads hurt in-app purchases by disrupting the gameplay of cash-flush gamers. Now, Google is using machine learning to only show ads to players who aren't likely to spend money on in-game purchases. This will spare big spenders the interruption.
Get ready for targeted ads on your smart TV
By now, we're all used to targeted ads on social media. And whether you're comfortable with having your interests shared with advertisers or not, it looks like "addressable advertising" is coming to your smart TV too, sooner rather than later. Several top media companies -- including Disney, Comcast, NBCUniversal, CBS and Discovery -- announced they're teaming up with smart TV company Vizio to develop a new standard that might make commercials feel eerily personal.
Senate bill proposes stricter privacy controls for children
Some politicians don't believe the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act does enough to protect kids in the modern era, and they're hoping to update it accordingly. Senators Ed Markey and Josh Hawley have introduced a bill that would amend COPPA with stricter controls on kids' data. It would ban ads targeted at kids, and would require an "Eraser Button" that would let kids and parents wipe data. The measure would still ban the collection of personal data for kids under 13 without their parents' consent, but it would also ban collecting data from the 13- to 15-year-old crowd without the user's permission.
Microsoft patent application could match online moods with emotionally-targeted ads
It's a match made in marketing heaven: users let their guards down within the internet's virtual walls and ads are served up to complement their fickle mental states. At least, that's one possible version of your hyper-targeted digital future, if a patent application, filed by Microsoft back in December of 2010, is any indication. The USPTO documents outline a system wherein users' online activity would be monitored and associated with a corresponding tone, their reactions recorded and an overall emotional state affixed to that behavior. This information, once properly indexed, would then be fed into a large database containing user-identifiable emotional profiles used to deliver mood-specific ads. Clearly, this proposed endeavor all but screams privacy concerns and begs the inclusion of a giant, blinking opt-out clause. Color us paranoid, but we'd rather not see the day when our PCs know we're having a particularly gloomy Sunday.
Google promises 'greater transparency' for targeted ads, gives users more control over them
Chances are you've visited at least one Google site or another today, and chances are you were delivered some ads tailored just for you while you were there. Exactly how those ads got from the advertiser to you hasn't always been clear, but Google's now announced a new effort that it promises will provide "greater transparency and choice" regarding the ads you see. The most immediate change is a new "Why this ad?" link that will be displayed in search results and on Gmail -- click on it and Google provides a brief explanation of how that particular ad came to appear on your screen (based on your current search terms, your location, etc.). You'll also soon be able to access a new Ads Preference Manager, which will let you block specific advertisers or opt out of personalized ads entirely. Google says those options will be appearing "over the coming weeks," but you can get a peek at what's in store in the video after the break.
Microsoft exec caught in privacy snafu, says Kinect might tailor ads to you
Microsoft's Dennis Durkin voiced an interesting idea at an investment summit last week -- the idea that the company's Kinect camera might pass data to advertisers about the way you look, play and speak. "We can cater what content gets presented to you based on who you are," he told investors, suggesting that the Kinect offered business opportunities that weren't possible "in a controller-based world." And over time that will help us be more targeted about what content choices we present, what advertising we present, how we get better feedback. And data about how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown, how many people are in a room when a game is being played, how are those people engaged with the game? How are they engaged with a sporting event? Are they standing up? Are they excited? Are they wearing Seahawks jerseys?Needless to say, sharing this level of photographic detail with advertisers presents some major privacy concerns -- though it's nothing we haven't heard before -- but moreover it's explicitly against the privacy policy Microsoft presents Kinect users. "Third party partners use aggregated data to deliver Kinect experiences (games or applications), to understand how customers use their Kinect experiences, and to improve performance or even to help plan new experiences," the Kinect Privacy and Online Safety FAQ reads, but also "They are not permitted to use the information for marketing purposes such as selling you games or services, or for personalizing advertising" (bolding ours). In an email to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft flatly denied that the Kinect would do anything of the sort, whether via third-party partners or otherwise. "Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE do not use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes," representatives wrote. Honestly, some of us at Engadget still think targeted advertising is kind of neat, but we know how seriously you take this stuff.
HP and Yahoo team up to deliver targeted ads... to printers
Seriously. To be specific, the two companies are working on delivering targeted ads to HP's web-connected printers, and the ads would apparently only show up when you use HP's "scheduled delivery" service to have portions of a newspaper or magazine printed every morning. To make those ads as targeted as possible, HP says the printers would employ IP sniffing to help pin down your location, and the company says that the ads could also be targeted based on "user's behavior as well as the content" -- although it's quick to point out that everything must be done with privacy in mind. Will folks mind having ads encroach on their own printed materials (not to mention printer ink)? Not according to HP's Stephen Nigro, who says that HP has discovered "that people were not bothered by it," and that part of its belief is that "you're used to it. You're used to seeing things with ads."
Canoe's targeted ads set sail for households with income to spend
The six cable companies involved with Canoe Ventures -- Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House -- will be turning loose the targeted ad technology that has been in the works for a while now. Especially in the midst of the economic crunch, you just know that tax brackets are going to drive the tailoring of the bespoke ads, which go by the friendly name of CAM (community addressable messaging). Fully interactive ads will have to wait for tru2way, so for now CAM 1.0 will swap in one of two versions of a spot, depending on whether the destination is in a zone designated as "over $100,000." We foresee some interesting water cooler discussions ahead as coworkers report seeing different ads at halftime and thus give away some personal info.
Comcast Spotlight to pinpoint customer desires with targeted ads
Comcast is rolling out its Spotlight program in Baltimore in Q3 of this year. There's a scary threesome involved in the effort: Comcast, media agency Starcom MediaVest Group and technology partner Invidi. Central to the program is Invidi's Advatar technology (no, not that Advatar) to deliver ads targeted to individual users. Before you get too scared by the "Big Brother" sound of all this, consider that Comcast's initial trial of addressable placements showed 38% less ad-skipping; that's a pretty good indication that people preferred the ad flavor cooked up by Comcast. Let's face it -- in conventional broadcasting (and increasingly online as well), advertising is a proven model. So programming is going to be sprinkled with ads; wouldn't you rather have them be personally interesting? We certainly prefer this to the "run the ads louder" approach. The real tricky issue will be maintenance of anonymity; we'll see how consumers respond as TV increasingly watches them. All companies involved would be wise to keep in mind the cost of winning back violated customer trust.
Microsoft envisions invasive approach to targeted advertising
Not that getting all up in our proverbial grills in order to provide specialized advertising is a new concept or anything, but Microsoft in particular has been on the warpath of late in this very realm. On the heels of a similar ad-based patent application comes documentation that reveals plans to use "biometric sensors, cameras, remote controls, or other accessories" to detect and identify an individual before doling out targeted plugs. Yes, this certainly does insinuate that your television would be watching you just as often as you viewed it, but unless it becomes lawful to stuff monitoring devices into our homes for the benefit of marketers, we'll consider ourselves safe -- for the time being.[Via TechDirt]
