Privacy

The UK is the first economy to spend more money on advertising online than on TV. According to Sweney  (2009), the UK spent £1.75 billion online in the first six months of the year 2009.  23.5% of marketing budgets is spent on advertising is for the internet, while television adverts are 21.9%. The adverts that appear on our computer screens need data though, to make sure that they advertise the right things to the right people. This is were privacy comes in. Shapiro (2009) says that we are in an advertising age, and that regarding the internet; "our very human needs around trust and security are largely absent from the conversation".(Shapiro 2009) 66% of internet users in the UK are against advertising targeting privacy grounds (Bearne 2009) and, in America, the statistics are basically the same, with 1/3 of users objecting to "tailored advertising"(Turrow et al. 2009). Even with everyone using the internet on a daily basis, people are not comfortable with their data being used to bring them more applicable adverts.

In defense, marketers who supply these advertisments say that it's what supplies free online content. They have a point with this argument because when asked, our lecture group said (all except one) that they wouldn't be willing to pay for access to Facebook. If people want free internet sites, they're might just have to give a little about themselves away. They should be able to obt-out though.