BT: Privacy Peril Or Key To Web Prosperity?

BT: Privacy Peril or Key To Web Prosperity?

Media Post

By Mark Walsh

February 27, 2009

If behavioral targeting is the key to providing Web users with advertising that’s better tailored to their particular needs and interests–instead of banner ads that they ignore–then what’s the harm to consumers?

That was a central question tackled by a panel of privacy and online marketing experts Thursday at the OMMA Behavioral conference in New York. Whether online user tracking–even when anonymous–represents a growing threat to privacy has become a hotly debated issue in the last year, with FTC, Congress and state governments considering increased regulation of behavioral targeting.

Jules Polonetsky quoted:

“If sites said to users, we try to work with ad networks to give you more relevant advertising, and we’re not trying to hide this, no one would run away,” said Polonetsky. He pointed to companies such as Amazon and eBay that have headed off backlash by letting customers know upfront that they use behavioral targeting in recommendation engines and advertising.”

Click here to view the full article.

Feb. 26, 2009 – Facebook’s Zuckerberg to Address User Privacy Concerns at Press Conference Thursday, PC World

 

 

Future of Privacy Forum Applauds DHS Appointment of New Chief Privacy Officer

Jules Polonetsky, director of the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), today made the following statement on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security appointment of Mary Ellen Callahan, as the department’s chief privacy officer:

“Mary Ellen Callahan has the critical combination of privacy savvy, common sense and a strong backbone needed to help craft policy that balances the need for tools to fight and win the war on terror and respect for the privacy and personal dignity of individuals.

“For an administration that has promised to be both tough on terror and committed to civil liberties, this position will play a pivotal role. Mary Ellen is recognized as an intent listener who will be able to ensure that voices of both law enforcement and civil libertarians are heard and respected.”

Feb. 17, 2009 – Facebook ‘Is Not Usurping Users’ Pictures, Sky News

 

 

After search, ad-serving logfiles.

Last week the major search engines presented before the Article 29 Working Party of European data regulators. Brendon Lynch of Microsoft had this handy chart which gave an overview of how the companies handle search data.

One thing I haven’t seen discussed is how companies are – or are not – handling the very tricky issue of stripping our proper names from search records. The easiest obvious way that a user could be potentially indentified from search logfiles (other than via legal process) is going to be when they have searched for their own name. Pulling out proper names is actually a difficult process, requiring a data base of all names in all languages used, leaving in the many “famous” names”, doing some calculations around velocity, etc. Not a trivial effort, but achievable in an useful, albeit imperfect manner.

We note that Yahoo is the only of the listed companies that has applied a public retention period to ad-serving log-files. In Europe, behavioral advertising service provider Wunderloop has qualified for data regulator-backed privacy seals by committing to very limited log-file retention periods. In the Federal Trade Commission Staff Report on Behavioral Advertising, released last week, clear guidance was provided that data should only be kept for as long as needed for the service. This would be a very good time for the big 3, plus many of the ad networks, to begin the process of figuring out how long they really need records of the Web sites a user has visited. Why wait for stress from EU regulators, threats of US regulation and press criticism? This effort is not as tricky to handle, nor as difficult a challenge to take on.

Feb. 12, 2009 – Agency Skeptical of Internet Privacy Policies, NY Times

 

 

Privacy and Personalization

Reaction to the FTC Staff Report: Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising

Industry has been left with a very narrow window to prove that they can offer users both privacy and personalization. The guidelines proposed are both technically feasible and business practical, but do require businesses to do more to ensure that consumers are equal partners in decisions about use of their data. The Commission has sent a clear message that a low bar of “do no harm” isn’t acceptable for online privacy and that transparency and user control are essential features for any company using data in a robust way.

Many of the key points raised by the Commission are already being implemented by leading companies who recognize that being more upfront with consumers is good business. If data is being used to benefit users by improving their experience, why not let them know, instead of treating it as a legal disclosure in a policy? And if a user’s searches, web sites visited, age, income range, sex, and social networking activity are being used to determine how they are treated online, it behooves businesses to recognize the significance of the digital persona that has been created – even if a name isn’t attached to the profile.

The FTC proposal takes a very pragmatic approach at a time of economic uncertainty and changing technologies in that they press business to make serious privacy advances, without breaking any business models.

No More Spammy FaceBook Apps

Remember all those FaceBook Apps that would spam users or trick you into spamming your friends when you downloaded them? FaceBook cracked down on them long ago, pretty much puttting a stop to the egregious behaviors that were messing with the user experience. Of course, some application developers have sought to work around the new policies and FaceBook has had to continue to nuance the guidelines and to continue to tweak enforcement. Overall, they do a good job at letting users share the apps they like and prevent abuse by those who go overboard. The back and forth, the debate on the FaceBook Developers Forum, feedback from users and FaceBook reaction have been a wonderful real-time public playing out of self-regulation in action. As always, Inside FaceBook, provides great coverage of the action.

White House New Media Team Grows

Good news for those of us who want to see the White House leading savvy but privacy smart efforts to use social media! Bev has done some great work at USA.gov and with the Federal Web Manager’s Council and now joins the White House New Media team.

FaceBook Privacy

All FaceBook has a very useful set of tips for using all the key FaceBook privacy controls. Nick has really nailed the most important tips, so check it out!