Profiling and Privacy: The Role of Data Privacy in Emerging Technologies

The privacy landscape in relation to digital marketing is dynamic and evolving with the advancements of technology. Digital marketing relies heavily on data, enabling businesses to target people and deliver customised experiences. It also allows organisations to communicate with potential customers through digital means (i.e. social media). The collecting, processing, and storing of personal data has become crucial to marketing strategies. To grow their digital marketing operations effectively, marketers want to comprehend customer behaviour, including their browsing habits and interests. The question is where to draw the line when it comes to excessive monitoring, tracking, and customised marketing. Digital marketers have to obtain users’ explicit consent, maintain transparency, and take precautions to safeguard users’ privacy. This highlights the necessity of having regulations in place to protect customers against misuse of and unauthorised access to their data. Whilst advertisers need to ensure that their marketing content aligns with customer expectations, protection of customer data privacy also cannot be ignored. The advancements of technology have also sparked the need to develop and implement data privacy regulations to protect customer data. Some governments already have such mechanisms in place, whilst some are in the process of drafting stringent data protection legislation similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) region. This has enabled people to have more control over their personal information. This study will explore the current landscape of privacy in digital marketing and touch upon technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that are pioneering these changes. Moreover, this study provides an overview of the current and future challenges and opportunities to help advertisers apply emerging technologies in an ethically correct manner.