Computational politics—the application of digital targeted-marketing technologies to election campaigns in the US and elsewhere—are now raising the same concerns for democratic discourse and governance that they have long raised for consumer privacy and welfare in the commercial marketplace. This paper examines the digital strategies and technologies of today’s political operations, explaining how they were employed during the most recent US election cycle, and exploring the implications of their continued use in the civic context.

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Targeted TV ad company Simulmedia is partnering with Oracle Data Cloud, a data service company, to target advertisements to consumers based on their in-store purchases.

Released on September 22, 2017 at a political microtargeting conference held in Amsterdam, in response to the recent announcement by Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg on changes to how they conduct political ad campaigns.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Dear Mark,

1. Key control of multiple devices, including TV. ISPs have positioned themselves to expand their consumer data collection across all the devices/platforms they operate. This includes broadband connections (including streaming media), mobile devices, PCs, and also TV. Unlike Google and Facebook, the cable and telephone ISPs largely control the TV set. Comcast has enabled its NBC division to use its set-top box data for targeting, for example.

“Marketers. Ready, aim, engage! It is easier than ever to hit the right marketing targets,” explains Equifax about its far-reaching data capabilities that capture, analyze, and sell our information. Equifax’s admission last week about its loss of personal information on 143 million Americans—including Social Security and drivers license numbers—is also a wake-up call about the dramatic loss of our privacy in the digital era.

Deep Root Analytics, a leading media & audience analytics company that creates data platforms for audience targeting and ad monitoring, announced today that it has expanded the number of audiences available with D2 Media Sales to enable political, corporate & advocacy advertisers to target Dish and DIRECTV households using proprietary audience segments.

FourthWall Media and Data Trust announced a partnership that will create a unique feed utilizing Data Trust’s comprehensive data warehouse. Data Trust will connect FourthWall’s census-level television viewership data to its GOP dataset of over 190 million American voters from all 50 states. The integrated solution will help allied analytics companies build media and television-centric targeting solutions for their customers.

The new report by Cracked Labs titled "Corporate Surveillance in Everyday Life" with contributions by CDD's Katharina Kopp, provides a powerful overview of the commercial surveillance infastructure, key players and trends. 

The report is available as a ten-part overview online and as a free, detailed 93-page PDF.