Fairness in Personalisation: the Role of Transparency and the Balance Between Interests

The fairness, transparency and lawfulness of online advertising business models has been heavily scrutinised recently by regulators and decisions and judgements have addressed essential questions in this context. Building on these the panel shall enable a discussion on how fairness in privacy and data protection should be placed in the right context, and be balanced against other interests and fundamental rights—such as the freedom of expression, the freedom to conduct a business, and the right to integrity. Why is it important to keep other rights in mind when interpreting GDPR, for instance, those concerning business models and international data transfers? And what role do other areas of law, namely contract law, play? This panel will address how fairness in advertising is related to the right implementation of the privacy-by-design principle. The speakers will also explore the role of user-centric tools for transparency and controls that are designed for people, businesses, and society to have a fair advertising experience. 

Based on recent case law and DPA decisions, what role do the concepts of fairness, transparency and lawfulness play when choosing an appropriate/adequate legal basis for running a data driven business model? 

What role should (1) balancing of interests and (2) user choices and controls play in the context of these principles and in choosing the appropriate legal basis (for personalized online advertising in digital offers without payment BUT also for other business models in other sectors)? 

What are noteworthy approaches and constructs with respect to fairness, transparency, user choices and control options for the individual user/customers in the context of different business models (eg. Ads-Free-Subscription models, Subscriptions)? 

What differs if these digital services or content are free of charge for the individual user/customer (i.e. financed by advertisers) and what does it take to obtain freely given consent for the processing of data required to finance services or content which are available to users free of charge? How do we think these regulations and their interpretations will impact online businesses and consumers in the future? Businesses need to monetise and are there concerns about the individual disproportionately feeling the impact of these regulations via walled gardens and payment for every service/platform they use online?