Legal Analysis of The Privacy Paradox between Consumer Convenience and Personal Life Intrusions in Hyper-Personalised Advertising

Abstract

This paper examines the privacy paradox in hyper-personalised advertising, where consumers enjoy increased convenience while unknowingly exposing themselves to deeper personal data intrusions. Driven by extensive algorithmic profiling, hyper-personalisation raises concerns of covert surveillance, behavioural manipulation, and diminished autonomy. Using a doctrinal legal method, the study analyses the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 in comparison with the EU GDPR. The findings reveal significant regulatory gaps in transparency, consent validity, and accountability for profiling practices. The paper concludes that stronger legal safeguards and clearer ethical obligations for data controllers are essential to balance consumer convenience with meaningful privacy protection.