Privacy groups propose do-not-track list
By Abbey Klaassen and Ira Teinowitz
Advertising Age
October 30, 2007
NEW YORK
(AdAge.com) -- Privacy advocates are expected to propose
the creation of a do-not-track list, a sort of internet
version of the Do Not Call Registry, at a news
conference tomorrow.
In addition to the list, the proposal calls for a
requirement that advertisers, as part of their online
ads, instantaneously disclose details of what they
intend to track. According to a media alert announcing
the news conference, the groups behind the proposal
include the Center for Democracy and Technology,
Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others.
The news conference is scheduled to occur the day before
the Federal Trade Commission convenes a two-day workshop
devoted to ad targeting and internet privacy.
Use cookies to track
Typically, advertisers and online media sellers use web
cookies to track and maintain information about online
consumers. A cookie might be used to figure out what's
in a user's shopping cart on a retail website or to
record a user's login for a particular site so that user
doesn't have to re-enter a login name and password every
time they revisit the site. Cookies can also be used to
track surfing behavior and offer up ads based on a
user's surfing history.
Thanks to such behavioral-targeting technology, a user
looking at a specific type of auto on a car-review site,
for example, could be targeted with an ad for that
particular make and model even when they move onto a
general-interest site. Behavioral targeting tends to
create more valuable inventory and be more effective,
according to many advertisers and publishers familiar
with the technology.
However, consumer-privacy advocates charge that
collecting such information in order to target ads
creates "a privacy imbalance that has deprived Americans
of the right to control their personal information."
Privacy advocates say current standards for collecting
such data, such as the Network Advertising Initiative,
don't do enough to safeguard consumers against the
potential pitfalls of data collection, and that most
consumers don't understand how such data is being used.
Some studies show many consumers falsely equate the
existence of a site's privacy policy with a promise that
the site will not collect or use consumer data.
Opponents speak up
Opponents of a do-not-track proposal say current privacy
standards already require that data not be personally
identifiable -- it cannot be attached to a phone number,
address, name or otherwise unique way to identify an
individual. Creating a do-not-track list would, they
say, run counter to that.
"It runs into the core issue of, we don't want to take
the anonymity away. This isn't a consumer-led revolution
like do-not-call was. ... This is an advocate looking
for a cause issue," said Dave Morgan, chairman of Tacoda,
a behavioral-targeting firm owned by AOL.
Online advertising, Mr. Morgan argues, underwrites
content. In an ideal scenario, he said more targeted
advertising would allow for fewer, more relevant ads on
a website, creating a better experience for consumers.
Indeed, consumer surveys tend to indicate consumers find
irrelevant advertising to be a source of irritation and
most consumers prefer free, ad-supported content to
paid, ad-free content.
According to a Forrester report on consumer attitudes
toward advertising from November 2006, there are three
main sources of advertising irritation to consumers: ads
are too numerous, disruptive and irrelevant.
Separately, the Center for Digital Democracy, which was
part of the complaint that led to the FTC hearings, is
ready to file a revised complaint indicating that some
of the information gleaned from tracking contributed to
part of the sub-prime mortgage problems.