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The man behind Channel 4's Big Brother, the former chief creative officer at Endemol, Peter Bazalgette, will tonight tell students at the London School of Economics (LSE) that the government's 'ambitious plans' to capture online and mobile data in order to combat terrorism could destroy consumers' confidence in online transactions.

Bazalgette, who will be speaking at the Polis Media Leadership dialogue , thinks that there is a 'policy vacuum' that could potentially hinder the development of the online economy.

"Privacy groups argue for absolute security without acknowledging the importance and value of personal data voluntarily released in return for content,  while media buyers do not give privacy a high enough priority", his speech reads in a release from the LSE.

"Public policy needs to square this circle," Bazalgette will say.

"So-called 'behavioural advertising' is at the forefront of this debate, where companies such as Phorm can now track our online movements and interests to serve us more targeted adverts. While Google products, like personalised search and Gmail, also scrutinise our activities in return for better services."

Bazalgette, who describes himself as a digital investor and media consultant, believes that there is the potential for growth in the online content economy, despite the current climate.

"Without tracking commercial internet growth may be still born, but it cannot work if the government or industry compromises our personal security. There is a policy vacuum in place of the joined up thinking that's needed," he plans to say.

"In the past few days we've had Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, calling for ISPs and mobile platforms to keep data longer . But Google has responded to privacy campaigners to reduce its data retention down to nine months. This is a mess."

Bazalgette will argue that in future most entertainment and information will be free for mobile and home use 'because that is what the model users prefer.'

"The only sustainable model to pay for most of this content is advertising. But broadband advertisers want to know a lot about us so they can target their message precisely and judge its effectiveness. So we'll pay for the likes of Coronation Street and the X Factor in future with our own personal data. But we have to be confident it is secure and not passed on to every Tom, Dick and minister."

Gus Hosein, a visiting fellow at the LSE and Privacy International will also be speaking at the LSE event, in response to Bazalgette's speech.

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Written by
Judith Townend

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