Publication Date
2010
Abstract
With the explosive growth in Internet use by consumers throughout the 1990s, advertisers have quickly embraced the Web as a fertile ground for attracting customers. This increase in usage has been tracked by online advertisers' progressive efforts to achieve ad relevance by discovering consumer preferences and serving ads accordingly. An attendant concern is the extent to which the data collection that fuels online advertising respects the consumer's interest in data privacy. To date, American lawmakers have allowed existing subject-matter-based privacy statutes, in combination with industry self-regulation and Federal Trade Commission oversight, to manage privacy concerns. In 2008, however, the introduction of a new method for determining consumer ad interests utilizing deep packet inspection (DPI)technology prompted questions about the adequacy of this regulatory scheme. This Note considers the success of the current regime as applied to prior advertising strategies in terms of protecting consumer privacy interests while enabling legitimate ad industry development. This Note then analyzes the regime's adequacy in the context of emerging DPI-based ad strategies. After considering the actual harms threatened by data-collection practices, the goals and importance of online advertising,and the rapid innovation that typifies the online environment, this Note concludes that the present layered system of regulation is best suited to balance consumer privacy concerns and industry interests both in the context of DPI and into the ever-evolving future.
Recommended Citation
Collins, Robert T. G.
(2010)
"The Privacy Implications of Deep Packet Inspection Technology: Why the Next Wave in Online Advertising Shouldn't Rock the Self-Regulatory Boat,"
Georgia Law Review: Vol. 44:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol44/iss2/6