I consent: An analysis of the Cookie Directive and its implications for UK behavioral advertising

Abstract

This paper assesses implications for the practical and theoretical understanding of consent in light of the coming into force of the European Cookie Directive (2009/136/EC). This Directive shifts behavioral advertising from being an opt-out practice to an opt-in one requiring consent. The aim of this paper is to assess conceptions of consent as detailed by the European Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, the UK government and the behavioral advertising industry. This is achieved through the application of philosophical understandings of consent generated in the first half of the paper that detail the ways in which these have been applied in health, an area that deals extensively with informed consent. The paper concludes by offering recommendations to behavioral advertisers on how best to implement opt-in consent policies so as to progress to ethically sound privacy practices.

Keywords

Autonomy behavioral advertising consent Cookie Directive Europe policy privacy UK

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acquisti

Grossklags

(2005) Privacy and rationality in individual decision making. Available at: www.dtc.umn.edu/weis2004/acquisti.pdf.

Acquisti

Grossklags

(2007) What can behavioral economics teach us about privacy? Available at: www.heinz.cmu.edu/~acquisti/papers/Acquisti-Grossklags-Chapter-Etrics.pdf.

Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (2011) Opinion 15/2011 on the definition of consent. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/privacy/docs/wpdocs/2011/wp187_en.pdf.

Ball

Lyon

Wood

. (2006) A report on the surveillance society. Available at: www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/surveillance_society_full_report_2006.pdf.

Baruh

(2007) Read at your own risk: shrinkage of privacy and interactive media. New Media & Society 9(2): 187–211.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2011a) Implementing the revised EU electronic communications framework: impact assessment. Available at: www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Implementing_revised_EU_ElectronicCommunicationsFramework_IA.pdf.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2011b) Implementing the revised EU electronic communications framework: HMG response to its consultation on proposals and overall approach including its consultation on specific issues. Available at: www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Implementing_revised_EU_ElectronicCommunicationsFramework_IA.pdf.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2011c) Open letter on the UK implementation of Article 5(3) of the e-Privacy Directive on cookies. Available at: www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/cookies_open_letter.pdf.

Faden

Beauchamp

(1986) A History and Theory of Informed Consent. New York: Oxford University Press.

10.

Fernback

Papacharissi

(2007) Online privacy as legal safeguard: the relationship among consumer, online portal, and privacy policies. New Media & Society 9(5): 715–734.

11.

Flash Eurobarometer – The Gallup Organization (2008) Data protection in the European Union: citizens’ perceptions analytical report. Available at: ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_225_sum_en.pdf.

12.

Gandy

(1996) Legitimate business interest: no end in sight? An inquiry into the status of privacy in cyberspace. University of Chicago Legal Forum 11: 77–137.

13.

Gandy

(2000) Exploring identity and identification in cyberspace. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy 14(2): 1085–1111.

14.

Gomez

Pinnick

Soltani

(2009) KnowPrivacy. Available at: www.knowprivacy.org/report/KnowPrivacy_Final_Report.pdf.

15.

Hume

(1753) Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. London: A. Millar.

16.

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (2011a) Changes to the rules on using cookies and similar technologies for storing information. Available at: www.ico.gov.uk/%7E/media/documents/library/Privacy_and_electronic/Practical_application/advice_on_the_new_cookies_regulations.pdf.

17.

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (2011b) Does consent mean ticking a box? Available at: www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/consent.aspx.

18.

Joinson

Rieps

U-D

Buchanan

. (2008) Privacy, trust and self-disclosure online. Available at: http://people.bath.ac.uk/aj266/pubs_pdf/joinson_et_al_HCI_final.pdf.

19.

Kant

(1993 [1785]) Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.

20.

Lanier

Saini

(2008) Understanding consumer privacy: a review and future directions. Academy of Marketing Science Review 12(2). Available at: www.amsreview.org/articles/lanier02-2008.pdf (accessed 19 December 2011).

21.

LaRose

Rifon

(2006) Your privacy is assured – of being disturbed: websites with and without privacy seals. New Media & Society 8(6): 1009–1029.

22.

Locke

(2005 [1689]) Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration. Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com.

23.

Lyon

(2001) Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life. Buckingham: Open University Press.

24.

McStay

(2011) The Mood of Information: A Critique of Behavioural Advertising. New York: Continuum.

25.

Miyazaki

Krishnamurthy

(2002) Internet seals of approval: effects on online privacy policies and consumer perceptions. Journal of Consumer Affairs 36(1): 28–49.

26.

Munro

(2001) Informated identities and the spread of the word virus. Ephemera 1(2): 149–162.

27.

Nehf

(2007) Shopping for privacy on the internet. Journal of Consumer Affairs 41(2): 351–365.

28.

Norberg

Horne

(2009) Standing in the footprint: including the self in the privacy debate and policy development. Journal of Consumer Affairs 43(3): 495–515.

29.

Plamenatz

(1968 [1938]) Consent, Freedom and Political Obligation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

30.

Rorty

(1989) Contingency, Irony and Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

31.

Shah

Kesan

(2009) Recipes for cookies: how institutions shape communication technologies. New Media & Society 11(3): 315–336.

32.

Thomas

Walport

(2008) Data sharing review. Available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20081105143757.

33.

Turow

(2003) Americans and online privacy: the system is broken. Available at: www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/jturow/Internet-privacy-report/36-page-turow-version-9.pdf.

34.

Turow

Hennessy

Bleakley

(2008) Consumers’ understanding of privacy rules in the marketplace. Journal of Consumer Affairs 42(3): 411–424.

35.

Van der Hof

Prins

(2008) Personalisation and its influence on identities, behaviour and social values. In: Hildebrandt

Gutwirth

(eds) Profiling the European Citizen: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 111–127.

36.

Van Dijk

(2006) The Network Society. London: SAGE.

37.

Waldron

(1994) John Locke: social contract versus political anthropology. In: Boucher

Kelly

(eds) The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls. London: Routledge, pp. 51–72.

38.

Zarsky

(2004) Desperately seeking solutions: using implementation-based solutions for the troubles of information privacy in the age of data mining and the internet society. Maine Law Review 56(1): 13–59.