15-18 November: Workshop on privacy and online advertising at IGF

At the 4th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, which takes place on 15-18 November 2009 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and CMCS' Kristina Irion are organising a workshop on "Privacy, Openness, Online Advertising and Online Behavioral Targeting Advertising".

The workshop follows up on last year's successful collaboration between Kristina and EPIC, when they co-oorganized the workshop "The Future of Online Privacy: Online advertising and behavioral targeting" at the IGF in Hyderabad, India.

Panelists at the workshop will start by summarizing the major developments during 2009 around the world on this topic. They will discuss some of the online advertising and behavioral targeting models applied in search engines, online video, online games and web 2.0, and will review how personal data is being collected and used.

Balancing freedom of speech, privacy, online marketing and consumer protection, participants will explore various alternatives, and consider international policy frameworks that have been proposed to regulate privacy and online advertising.

Online advertising and its impact on Internet users and privacy is a global industry, impacting both developing and more economically-advantaged countries alike. The panel will address practices affecting Internet users all over the world, with an emphasis on Asia, South America and Africa. Among the outcomes of this panel will be specific criteria that participants can apply to their own countries, realities and circumstances.

More information is available on the IGF website.