You Are What You Click: On Microtargeting

“Accounts of privacy violations bubble through the news and stir public outrage, which is often followed by a backlash and occasionally a fine. But these stories rarely reveal the porous privacy lines of the digital realm, or whether other types of violations are being committed online, by companies other than the household names. The outrage is selective and the enforcements ad hoc. News stories about hacking, data sniffing and the like have become red herrings. They provide false assurances that, in the normal course of things, our privacy is not being invaded on the Internet, that our personal data is safe, and that we are anonymous in our online—and offline—activities. But we aren’t. “Privacy” and “anonymity” are being defined down…”