It’s possible that consumers are happy to have the most minute details of their lives surveilled and monetized in return for seeing ads they might want to click on. This is a hard theory to test, because very few people even know they’re making the trade. However, one organization recently tried to find out. After the European Union’s landmark privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, went into effect in 2018, a Dutch public broadcasting agency started prompting all visitors to its website to choose, in a clear and straightforward manner, whether they wanted their data shared with advertisers. The result? Ninety percent opted out, and the agency abandoned behavioral advertising altogether. (A Google spokesperson notes that all users can opt out of personalized ads, and that Google has long prohibited personalized advertising based on sensitive information.)
This seems to be mainly about billboards. I’m talking mainly about a sign on your door that explains what your business is. I hadn’t initially thought of this as a form of advertising but it technically is.
I’d be open to discussing a broader ban but my current thinking is that this very basic type of advertising which is primarily informational may be do more good than harm.
Ah gotcha, yeah, the sign on the door shouldn’t be banned, I agree. That might get confusing if nothing is labelled past an address.