Following the FTC recommendations for new legislation for online privacy and the growing publicity that behavioral tracking has received, marketers and industry groups have begun increasing the visibility of their opt-out features to demonstrate compliance with the spirit of the proposals. However well intended, this approach may give users a sense of false security, leading them to assume that opting out once will protect their user data throughout the duration of their online experience.
"[Giving users the option to opt out of cookie-based tracking] may not actually be an effective strategy in the long run because at the end of the day, some vendors will play fair and do what they're supposed to do and others won't," said Semcasting CEO Ray Kingman. "Current site management methods don’t always place a systemic block on all cookies - it is often page by page, and sometimes site by site. And it's not unusual to find situations where you can block the cookie when prompted on the page you’re on, only to have another cookie for a related subject or product placed in its stead when you leave. Managing cookie placement could also turn out to be damaging to the user experience as cookies manage passwords and often help with performance."
A more constructive approach to managing privacy may be to look at how information about you and your activity is being managed. When a user has a "first party" relationship with the user, such as your bank or your Netflix account, the vendor who places a cookie should be able to use that information to improve the user experience. Not having to remember a login name or getting a recommendation for your next movie choice is a good thing. The privacy violation occurs when your bank or bookstore sells your interests or personal information to "third parties" without your knowledge. Managing this third party relationship and the transfer of information is the real privacy concern.
A solution like Semcasting's IP Audience Zones can effectively redefine the scope of the data advertisers have at their disposal, eliminating the need to close the privacy loopholes related to OBA.
Rather than relying on behavioral information bought from a data exchange to inform campaigns, advertisers could be using IP Audience Zones to tap into the much broader wealth of publicly available information afforded by the solution. IP Zones breaks hundreds of data points down into geo-specific groups of U.S. residents at the sub zip-code level - 77 times more granular than a zip code in fact. The IP Zones approach also provides approximately 60 percent more reach than cookies as well as significantly more relevant consumer data. Information to advertisers such as average age, household income, political affiliations and vehicle make for anywhere between 10 to 300 people who live in the same microtargeting IP Zone, eliminating the issue of individual data being passed to third parties promoting a more marketing intelligent solution that benefit all parties.
Ray Kingman : Sep 27, 2011 8:29:29 PM
