Overview
Discussion 1 (100 words):
Around 30% of all digital ad spending goes through Google, making it the largest player in targeted advertising. For those on the audience/user side, Google offers My Ad CenterLinks to an external site., a tool that shows you some of the information that Google uses to serve ads to you. When you visit ad center you can see the interests Google thinks that you have, the brands it associates you with, and the demographic categories it has guessed that you are part of including things like your income level and relationship status (to see this in the current layout, use the "manage privacy" tab).
Please visit your Google ad center, look around at what you see, and write 100-150 words in response to the following question:
What is your reaction to the different ways that Google has categorized you? Is it accurate or inaccurate? Is there anything that sticks out strongly as being totally off the mark? If so, can you think of an explanation in your digital behavior that might have led to this?
Discussion 2 (125 words):In order to use the digital services we do, we give up all kinds of information--from what media we consume to where we are at all times to who we interact with, today we are essentially always in the process of generating data about ourselves that gets repackaged, sold, and used to target us with messages without our knowledge of what's happening to it.
For this discussion, please write 125 words in response to the following question:
How concerned are you about data privacy? Do you think the internet's economy should shift away from its focus on personal data collection?