Many websites are now telling people they can browse for free only if they agree to let the site track their data and show them personalized ads.
If you don’t want that, they ask you to pay money instead. This business model, called “consent or pay,” is becoming more common, but there are still questions about whether it is fair or even legal.
The UK’s data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), is looking into this and will share its findings later this year, according to BBC.
The ICO says that, in theory, data protection laws do not stop companies from using the “consent or pay” model.
However, the ICO also emphasizes that companies need to make sure people give their consent freely, with full knowledge, and that they can take back that consent without negative consequences.
According to BBC, this is important because the rules must balance the need for businesses to make money with people’s right to privacy.
The idea behind this is simple: if you use a service for free, your personal data becomes the product that companies sell to advertisers. Websites collect your data to show you ads that are more relevant to you, which makes those ads more valuable.
But since 2018, UK websites have been required to get clear consent before using tracking technologies like cookies, as reported by BBC.
This has led to the familiar pop-ups asking you to accept or reject cookies. If people reject tracking, websites make less money because advertisers don’t want to pay as much for ads that aren’t as targeted.
So, some websites have started offering a choice: let us track you or pay to avoid it. This is especially important for industries like print media, which rely heavily on advertising revenue.
According to BBC, newspapers like MailOnline, The Sun, and The Times have all started using the “consent or pay” approach to make up for lost ad revenue.
However, there are still concerns about whether this choice is truly fair. Legal experts like Eva Lu, as mentioned by BBC, say that for this model to be allowed, people must have a real, free choice about how their data is used.
This might depend on how much companies charge for privacy, the size of the company, and whether there are other options available to users.
In some cases, like with streaming services, people might not have an alternative if they don’t want to agree to tracking, which makes the situation more complicated.
BBC also reports that this issue has already come up in the EU, where the European Commission has told Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) that its “pay or consent” model might be illegal.
Meta disagrees, saying that offering subscriptions instead of ads is a common practice in many industries, and they are currently discussing this with the UK’s ICO.
This situation highlights the ongoing debate about balancing the rights of businesses and the privacy of users, and the outcome of these discussions could shape the future of online privacy, as reported by BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93599ejdeno