Smart Surveillance and Personalised Advertising – 23 March 2022 Rachel Finn, David Wright and Kush Wadhwa, Trilateral Research & Consulting SAPIENT workshop, Amsterdam, 27 June

Objectives of the scenario  Scenario objectives:  Illustrate emerging smart surveillance technologies and how they can be used to be effective and scalable to rapidly adapt to changing situations  Depict the legal, regulatory and ethical issues they raise  Highlight potential risks, threats and vulnerabilities and ways of dealing with those risks  Scenario context:  Personalised marketing services by business to consumers and the use of surveillance technologies to complement profiling, data mining and data matching  Scenario timeline: 10 years Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20222

Methodology  Developed a “feeder paper” based on literature review of academic publications, mass media materials, technology blogs, industry materials, websites of civil society organisations, etc. that analysed:  the capabilities of different surveillance technologies used for personalised advertising  the extent to which these technologies were becoming “smart”  the current and predicted ethical issues they raise  Used predictions from the literature as well as brainstorming to suggest how these technologies and ethical issues might develop in the next 10 years.  Invited an internal review of the scenario by project partners Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20223

The scenario  Beneficiaries  Begins with a discussion of why personalised advertising technologies have proliferated over the last ten years  Better customer targeting  Shield customers from irrelevant advertisements  Produce economic benefits in terms of increased consumer purchasing and increased demand for data professionals  Data collection and interconnection in four “spaces”  Virtual space  In-store  Public space  Home Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20224

Ethical issues (1)  Profiling  Advertisements are not really personalised, they are based on a set number of profiles that are difficult to escape once one is categorised  Those with “undesirable” profiles are blocked from making certain purchases  Those with desirable profiles get discounts on certain items that others have difficulty accessing  Manipulation  Customers are encouraged to purchase or finance goods which match with their profiles or purchase histories  High pressure sales tactics and the removal of “alternative” items  Manipulation of mood to encourage purchasing  Use of these techniques by political lobbyists to influence voting behaviour Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20225

Ethical issues (2)  Inequality  People have little information about products not linked to their profile  Alteration of prices through profile-based discount schemes  Disproportionate access to health or financial services  Identification  Shoppers are personally identifiable  Individual’s personal or health characteristics are known to shop workers  Family shopping becomes difficult because of stratified pricing (via discounts) Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20226

Ethical issues (3)  Chilling effect  Individuals become wary of:  Making particular purchases  Searching particular issues/medical symptoms on the internet (bankruptcy, headaches, etc.)  Students and dissidents come under increased investigation  Some computer savvy individuals have learned how to use proxy websites and ghost logins Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20227

Social consequences  Democratic choice is effectively reduced  Free will is also reduced in terms of:  access to goods and services,  media consumption, and  citizens’ relationship with government  How can these threats be mitigated? Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 20228

Questions  Any questions?  Key contacts  David Wright,  Kush Wadhwa,  Rachel Finn, 9Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 2022 Crown House 72 Hammersmith Road London, W14 8TH +44 (0)