Online advertising comes in many guises: ads on search engine results pages, banner ads and email marketing, including spam, to name a few. For most people advertising is part and parcel of their online experience: sometimes useful, sometimes irritating, but perhaps most often ignored. However, there have been significant developments in online advertising recently which are causing debate among privacy professionals – particularly relating to behavioural or personalised internet advertising. Should those of us who are concerned about privacy really be cautious about embracing these new technologies?

One matter in particular to have received press coverage is Phorm’s internet service provider (ISP)-level adware and associated targeted online advertising. Targeted online advertising directs advertisements at customers based on their previous online behaviour. Together with a user’s ISP, the new technologies profile the addresses and certain content of websites visited and then use that information to place that user in defined advertising categories.