Smart Surveillance and Personalised Advertising – 23 March 2022

1. Smart Surveillance and PersonalisedAdvertising – 23 March 2022 Rachel Finn, David Wright and Kush Wadhwa, Trilateral Research & Consulting SAPIENT workshop, Amsterdam, 27 June 2012

2. 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 2022

3. 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 2022

4. 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 2022

5. 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 2022

6. 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 2022

7. 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 2022

8. 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 2022

9. Questions • Any questions? • Key contacts • David Wright, david.wright@trilateralresearch.com • Kush Wadhwa, kush.wadhwa@trilateralresearch.com • Rachel Finn, rachel.finn@trilateralresearch.com Crown House 72 Hammersmith Road London, W14 8TH +44 (0) 207 559 3550 Smart surveillance and personalised advertising – 23 March 2022