Government web spying revelations shocked the world in the year when online privacy became big news
Tech advances such as Google Glass and 3D printers raise new questions about digital regulation
Marketers continue to battle regulators over ‘Do Not Track’ defaults for web users

The great privacy trade-off

Government spying revelations shook the world this year, as Edward Snowden broke ranks from the NSA to show us all how far authoirities go to track user behaviour online in the name of national security- with the complicity of many internet giants.
Indeed, privacy issues dominated much of the internet discussions this year, as brands and consumers tread a fine balance to trade personal data in exchange for free content and services. Meanwhile, technology advances such as Google’s augmented reality glasses and 3D printers raised their own issues, with the world’s first working printed gun making many uneasy.
Advertisers continued to battle with regulators over tracking issues, and major web companies, including Google, Amazon and Apple all came under fire for (perfectly legal) tax avoidance practices.
View our pick of the top 10 headlines that shaped digital marketing regulation below:

Reddit co-founder’s death sparks rise in Hacktivist attacks

January 2013

The death of Reddit co-creator and online rights activist Aaron Swartz has sparked a rise in politically-motivated hack attacks, often dubbed ‘Hacktivism’. Swartz took his own life just weeks before the start of his federal trial related to charges in 2011 that he downloaded nearly 5 million academic articles from JSTOR, a subscription service used by the MIT, in a bid to distribute them free on file-sharing sites. Days after news of Swartz’ suicide, hackers affiliated with Anonymous launched an attack against the US Department of Justice and the MIT.

Facebook deletes EU facial recognition data (as it re-launches in US)

February 2013

Irish and German regulators have confirmed that Facebook has deleted all trace of European facial recognition data, following a privacy outcry last year. The move comes as the social network reintroduces the controversial tagging tool in the US. The Irish Data Protection Commission and a German regular independently confirmed that Facebook completely deleted its facial recognition templates, as Facebook had promised to do by October 15.

Channel 4 ‘data baby’ to expose modern ad tracking techniques

March 2013
Channel 4 has launched ‘Data Baby’, a new experiment that will monitor how an individual web user’s habits are tracked and used by online advertisers. The experiment will look at how technology such as Google’s DoubleClick has become more sophisticated, moving from traditional cookie tracking to location, frequency and device monitoring techniques.
Watch a Channel 4 video explaining the project below:

MoneySupermarket ads blocked from Google search after AdWords breach

April 2013

Finance site MoneySupermarket.com has seen its search ads pulled from Google’s search results due to a ‘lack of transparency’ over its payday loan adverts. Google pulled all paid search ads run by MoneySupermarket.com as part of a crackdown on payday loan vendors that disregard AdWords’ policies. The ads were down for over 24 hours before the issues were rectified by MoneySupermarket.

Pfizer to sell Viagra online to compete with fraudsters

May 2013
Pfizer is to sell its patented Viagra drug online for the first time, as the drugs maker looks to counter the trade in counterfeit pills. The move will see Pfizer sell the erectile disfunction treatment to patients in the US with a valid prescription for $25 each from its website, Viagra.com. The pill will cost significantly more than fake versions, but Pfizer said patients would be guaranteed quality.

Dawn of ‘wiki weapons’? First 3D printable gun hits internet

May 2013

As 3D printers go mainstream, one Texas law student has created the schematics for a 3D printable single-use gun, making them freely available online. Cody Wilson, a 25-year old University of Texas law student, has created a non-profit organization called Defense Distributed. In April, Wilson was able to acquire a Type 7 Federal Firearms License (FFL), making him a federally licensed gun manufacturer. The firm is now showing off the world’s first 3D printable gun just days before they release the CAD files online.

Is Google doing ‘evil’ over UK tax? (video)

May 2013
Google has been accused of ignoring its own mantra and doing “evil in using smoke and mirrors to avoid paying tax” by UK MPs this week. Watch a video from Channel 4 showing Google Vice President Matt Brittin being questioned by the committee here:

Twitter sorry after posting fake tweets from real users in ads

July 2013

Hey @Neil_Gottlieb, @WilliamMazeo, @subhash_tewari – so sorry about the confusion earlier today. We're fixing the problem now.

— Twitter Advertising (@TwitterAds) July 23, 2013

Twitter has come under fire for posting fake tweets from real users ito promote its new ad platform. The social network has been forced to apologise after promoting a new ad service on its blog earlier this week, along with fake tweets attributed to three social networkers. The blog promoted a new ad platform that let brands run TV commercials on Twitter. It featured three posts from real users apparently discussing commercials they had seen.

Google forced to pay $17m in Safari tracking case

November 2013

Google has been forced to pay $17m (£10.5m) for tracking Apple’s Safari browser users without their permission. At issue were advertising cookies that Google placed on the computers of Safari users in the US, who visited sites within Google’s DoubleClick advertising network.

Web giants unite to demand government spying reform

December 2013

Web giants Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn and Yahoo have united to form the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, to demand a change to digital surveillance practices. The news follows this year’s revalations that the NSA, GCHQ, and others including Australia’s government we engaged in wide spread spying on user’s web habits across the globe in the name of national security.