Coping with Algorithmic Risks

Algorithmic selection is omnipresent in various domains of our online everyday lives: it ranks our search results, curates our social media news feeds, or recommends videos to watch and music to listen to. This widespread application of algorithmic selection on the internet can be associated with risks like feeling surveilled (S), feeling exposed to distorted information (D), or feeling like one is using the internet too excessively (O). One way in which internet users can cope with such algorithmic risks is by applying self-help strategies such as adjusting their privacy settings (Sstrat), double-checking information (Dstrat), or deliberately ignoring automated recommendations (Ostrat). This article determines the association of the theoretically derived factors risk awareness (1), personal risk affectedness (2), and algorithm skills (3) with these self-help strategies. The findings from structural equation modelling on survey data representative for the Swiss online population (N2018=1,202) show that personal affectedness by algorithmic risks, awareness of algorithmic risks and algorithm skills are associated with the use of self-help strategies. These results indicate that besides implementing statutory regulation, policy makers have the option to encourage internet users’ self-help by increasing their awareness of algorithmic risks, clarifying how such risks affect them personally, and promoting their algorithm skills

Analiza učinkovitosti oglašivačkih poruka. Usporedba po mediju, tipologiji i rasporedu oglasa

Purpose – This research aims to evaluate how the effectiveness of advertisements can vary according to three fundamental variables: the time schedule of message receipt, the media, and the type of advertising message used. Design/methodology/approach – An experiment with 375 university students related to administrative careers was devised, creating 25 work groups that were stimulated by multiple advertisements with different combinations of the described variables. Subsequently, various techniques were applied to evaluate the ads used. Findings and implications – The main results showed that advertisements with musical messages have a greater capacity to be retained in the minds of their recipients; similarly, advertising messages that are transmitted through the use of audiovisual media have a greater capacity to please or attract. Limitation – The main limitation is associated primarily with the characteristics of the sample, as it is a very specific audience, where the influence of other demographic variables, including age, sex, marital status, and living conditions, was not considered. Originality – The results obtained confirm the contributions of previous studies and reveal patterns of behavior related to the impact of the media and the type of advertisement that is used in its potential to stimulate memories in the subjects receiving the message and to please the target audience, fundamentally in the messages aimed at young audiences (university students). In addition, it provides information on how some attributes that distinguish the advertisement, according to the type of advertising messages used, should be considered as an additional criterion for managers to decide on the type of the advertising message, the fair amount to use, and the most beneficial transmission schedule of such advertisements.Svrha – Cilj je istraživanja procijeniti kako se učinkovitost oglasa može razlikovati ovisno o trima ključnim varijablama, to jest o vremenskom rasporedu primanja poruke, mediju i vrsti korištene oglašivačke poruke. Metodološki pristup – Osmišljen je eksperiment u kojem je sudjelovalo 375 studenata poslovnog usmjerenja, a oformljeno je 25 radnih grupa koje su poticane višestrukim oglasima s različitim kombinacijama opisanih varijabli. Potom su primijenjene različite tehnike za procjenu korištenih oglasa. Rezultati i implikacije – Glavni rezultati pokazali su da oglasi s glazbenim porukama imaju veću sposobnost zadržavanja u svijesti primatelja poruke kao i da oglašivačke poruke koje se prenose korištenjem audiovizualnih medija imaju veći kapacitet za ugoditi ili privući. Ograničenja – Glavno ograničenje uglavnom je povezano s karakteristikama uzorka jer je riječ o vrlo specifičnoj populaciji u kojoj utjecaj drugih demografskih varijabli, poput dobi, spola, bračnog statusa, životnih uvjeta, između ostalog, nije razmatran. Doprinos – Dobiveni rezultati potvrđuju doprinose prethodnih istraživanja i otkrivaju obrasce ponašanja povezane s utjecajem medija i vrste korištenog oglasa u odnosu na potencijal poticanja sjećanja u primatelja poruke i ugađanje ciljnoj publici, u osnovi u porukama namijenjenim mladoj publici (studentima). Dodatno, pružaju informacije o tome kako neke atribute, po kojima se oglas razlikuje prema vrsti korištene oglašivačke poruke, treba razmatrati kao dodatni kriterij pri odlučivanju menadžera o vrsti oglašivačke poruke, primjerenoj količini korištenja kao i najpovoljnijem rasporedu prenošenja takvih oglasa

On the regulation of personal data distribution in online advertising platforms

Online tracking is the key enabling technology of modern online advertising. In the recently established model of real-time bidding (RTB), the web pages tracked by ad platforms are shared with advertising agencies (also called DSPs), which, in an auction-based system, may bid for user ad impressions. Since tracking data are no longer confined to ad platforms, RTB poses serious risks to privacy, especially with regard to user profiling, a practice that can be conducted at a very low cost by any DSP or related agency, as we reveal here. In this work, we illustrate these privacy risks by examining a data set with the real ad-auctions of a DSP, and show that for at least 55% of the users tracked by this agency, it paid nothing for their browsing data. To mitigate this abuse, we propose a system that regulates the distribution of bid requests (containing user tracking data) to potentially interested bidders, depending on their previous behavior. In our approach, an ad platform restricts the sharing of tracking data by limiting the number of DSPs participating in each auction, thereby leaving unchanged the current RTB architecture and protocols. However, doing so may have an evident impact on the ad platform’s revenue. The proposed system is designed accordingly, to ensure the revenue is maximized while the abuse by DSPs is prevented to a large degree. Experimental results seem to suggest that our system is able to correct misbehaving DSPs, and consequently enhance user privacy.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft