Improvement of the Advertising Industry

Discussion
The advertising industry has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past decade. In the past, advertisers had to guess where they could reach potential customers on television, radio and print. Now, much of the advertising budget is spent online where advertisers are able to reach specific individuals who are most likely to buy their advertiser’s product or service. Through Google they know what you have searched for and deliver ads for that. Amazon knows what you buy and suggests products based upon that. Facebook know a great deal about your life through your posts, you friends, your messages as well as any web site you sign in using your Facebook credentials. By matching email addresses, mobile phone numbers, IP addresses, advertisers can identify who you are and where you live. Superimposed upon this system is a network of data brokers who buy and sell data from online companies and assemble disparate pieces of data into a profile of individuals that undoubtedly include you. There is hardly any regulation of this data ecosystem. For an example, read the linked New York Times articles on data apps and the data they provide and respond to the questions below.
A Brief History of How Your Privacy was Stolen
Grindr and OkCupid Spread Personal Details, Study Says
• Do you find any of these particular practices to be ethically questionable? What are those practices?
• Why do you think these practices are unethical using one of the ethical theories in your toolkit?
• Are you surprised or alarmed that so much of your personal data is available in this ecosystem?
• Do you think the system ought to be changed to eliminate these practices and, if so, what changes would you suggest?
Make sure that you post your substantive initial posting no later than Saturday this week and be sure to use outside support for your posting. This should be from reliable sources (other than the textbook), and you need to reference the sources using proper APA Version 7 formatting.
In addition to your initial posting, you need to respond to at least three classmates’ initial posts to provide comments, insights, or questions that further the discussion. Your responses need to be substantive and should move the discussions forward.
Keep in mind that you cannot submit discussion posts for credit after the weekends and you will be assessed a late penalty for any initial posts that are submitted after Saturday. You will not be able to see other posts until you have posted yours, and you should not edit your initial posting after you have posted.
How to Do Well in Discussions
• Make your initial post responding to the above questions.
• Comment on at least three of your classmates’ post.
• Posting late may lose you points.
• Respond to the specific questions posed in the discussion.
• Be sure to base your initial post and responses on course materials, and other scholarly sources.
• Write clearly and proofread; errors can lose you points.
• Quality of posts, citations, frequency, and timeliness of posts all factor into your discussion grade.