Stop surveillance advertising!
Petition to the FTC:
We urge you to regulate surveillance advertising practices (also known as 'interactive advertising') to protect our personal data from law enforcement agencies, unwarranted government intelligence gathering, and corporations — including media outlets. Major online news media outlets are some of the biggest surveillance advertisers and must be included in these regulations!
There are currently next to no regulations on the collecting and sale of our personal data by websites and advertisers. That leaves us vulnerable to all kinds of surveillance and abuse.
The Biden administration is finally taking steps towards stopping this abuse by regulating the surveillance advertising industry, but the ad lobby is gearing up for a fight. The White House and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must resist their efforts and protect Americans' privacy!
Sign the petition: We need protection from surveillance advertising! The FTC must resist corporate lobbyists and finally regulate the 'interactive advertising industry'!
Here's why this matters. According to reporters at the Intercept: "Law enforcement agencies have tapped the oceans of user data, including for the targeting of protesters and activist groups. Powerful political interests have hired data brokers to better influence voters.' And tech firms have "provided data to the FBI and discussed programs to sell user data to the Pentagon."1
Online news outlets are some of the biggest beneficiaries of invasive data collection. The trade group opposing ad regulation includes big data brokers and dozens of the biggest media companies: CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, Time, the Washington Post, Vox, and Fox News, to name a few. And a 2020 study found that news sites use more trackers on users than any other site or industry.2
That's one reason you're unlikely to hear much about the abuses of the surveillance advertising industry: major media outlets use invasive tracking practices to target ads and content to digital readers. News media is a primary buyer and seller of user data, and is therefore clearly biased towards the perpetuation of surveillance ads.3
Sign the petition: the FTC must resist the ad lobby's opposition to its regulation of the surveillance advertising industry!
Sources:
1, 2, 3. The Intercept, "Media Outlets That Use Invasive Tracking Are Lobbying Against Regulation,” February 1, 2022.