At a discussion on social media in London last week on “Understanding Social Graph Optimisation,” [meaning how to better target and monetize users], one of the topics was whether users should be financially compensated when their data is harvested for commercial exploit (such as for marketing). What did Facebook’s executive on the panel say? According to one post covering the event, ”
Trevor Johnson, Head of Strategy and Planning, EMEA at Facebook made it clear that Facebook users get enough value back simply from the user experience gained by being on Facebook. He described how users gain “egotistical value”.
Category: privacy
Microsoft to Advertisers: “Behavioural targeting is transforming the capabilities of online advertising”
In a recent post, Microsoft extolled the virtues of using its behavioral targeting service profiling mobile phone users. It explained that “campaigns can target individuals based on their online behaviour, including the sites that they visit, the actions they take and the terms they enter into search engines. In the US behavioural targeting on mobiles has already delivered increases in click-through rate of 215% for the fashion and beauty sector, 97% for airlines and 76% for auto advertisers.”
Google and the NSA: The search giant’s DC marketing office is looking to “generate and close sales to the Intelligence Community”
Google and other major companies want help from the NSA to help it better defend against cyberattacks and commercial spying. But is also illustrates a real problem: companies such as Google that gather extensive information on citizens everywhere, including in the US, are partnering with government agencies that have engaged in domestic spying. Google really needs to create something more than a “Chinese wall” between itself and governments–including the US. Another real problem is Google is working to curry favor with the NSA, CIA, DoD and others in order to sell its services and make greater profits. Take a look at the current job openings at Google’s DC office focused on selling its services to both the intelligence community and Department of Defense. It raises questions about the dimensions of its relationship with NSA, given that they are also looking to develop marketing opportunities.
*****
excerpt: Â Enterprise Federal Inside Sales Representative for Intelligence Community – Washington D.C.
This position is based in Washington D.C.
The area: Enterprise
The Enterprise team focuses on integrating Google’s products and services into small and large businesses, educational institutions and government agencies. Consisting of high-achieving engineering, sales and marketing professionals, we work with a vast array of partners and customers to advance the company’s mission of organizing the world’s information to make it universally accessible and useful.
The role: Enterprise Federal Inside Sales Representative for Intelligence Community
This position is responsible for selling Google Enterprise Solutions including the Google search appliance and Geospatial products, including Google Earth and Google Maps to Federal Clients. The Google Search Appliance is a hardware and software product designed to offer large businesses the productivity enhancing power of Google search.
You must be comfortable making dozens of cold calls a day, working closely with the Federal Enterprise Sales Managers to generate and close sales to the Intelligence Community. [our bold]. Candidates must have demonstrated experience prospecting and growing an account list, as well as a successful track record of closing sales to the Federal government. Candidates should be willing to do some travel, to attend and work tradeshows and conferences, as well as to attend customer meetings.
Responsibilities:
Be responsible for the entire sales process from Prospecting to Close.
Lead Generation/outbound calling and warm lead follow up.
Understand Customer Needs and requirements.
Present and articulate advanced product features and benefits of Google Enterprise solutions. Provide on-line demonstrations.
Close Sales and achieve sales quotas. Be able to sell and differentiate in a competitive environment.
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Enterprise Federal, DOD Sales Manager – Washington D.C.
This position is located in Washington D.C.
The area: Enterprise
As the emerging leader in cloud computing, Google’s Enterprise division delivers cloud services and other IT products to small and large businesses, educational institutions and government agencies. Our team of high-achieving engineers, product managers, and sales and marketing professionals works with a vast array of partners and customers to advance the company’s mission to organize the world’s information to make it universally accessible and useful. The Enterprise team is among a handful of rapidly emerging new businesses that are becoming front-and-center for Google as it enters its second decade as a company.
The role: Enterprise Federal, DOD Sales Manager
In this position, you will generate and close sales of the Google Search Appliance and Google Geospatial products among U.S. Dept. of Defense government agencies. The main duties of this position will include making cold calls on new prospects and following up on marketing and sales leads. You will be delivering quarterly quotas and building an existing region into a more fruitful territory. Most importantly, you will be developing business strategies to capture long term programs and opportunities.
Responsibilities:
- Achieve annual sales quota, with emphasis on strong quarterly attainment.
- Build business strategy to generate short and long-term opportunities for all Google Enterprise products.
- Increase awareness of Google Federal and strengthen customer relationships in the Department of Defense.
- Develop current and new Google partners focused on DoD customers.
- Provide accurate quarterly sales projections on a weekly basis and keep thorough records of customer interactions.
- *****
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Federal/Intelligence Community Account Manager, Enterprise – Washington D.C.
This position is based in Washington D.C.
The area: Enterprise
The Enterprise team focuses on integrating Google’s products and services into small and large businesses, educational institutions and government agencies. Consisting of high-achieving engineering, sales and marketing professionals, we work with a vast array of partners and customers to advance the company’s mission of organizing the world’s information to make it universally accessible and useful.
The role: Federal/Intelligence Community Account Manager, Enterprise
In this position, you will generate and close sales of the Google Search Appliance and Google Geospatial products among Intelligence community accounts. The main duties of this position include making cold calls on new prospects and following up on marketing and sales leads. You will be delivering quarterly quotas and building an existing region into a more fruitful territory. Most importantly, you will be developing business strategy to capture long term programs and opportunities.
Responsibilities:
- Achieve quarterly sales quotas.
- Generate and qualify all leads and sales opportunities.
- Make outbound calls to targeted customers.
- Respond to inbound inquiries from marketing and lead generation programs.
- Serve as primary customer contact during bid submission, pilot test, legal review, and procurement.
Microsoft Differs from IAB Lobby on Strengthening FTC Consumer Safeguards [via a letter sent to CDD]
We asked both Microsoft and Google, which serve on the executive committee of the Interactive Ad Bureau [IAB] trade lobbying group, whether they supported its recent letter opposing congressional action to strengthen the FTC. The letter was signed by IAB and other marketing and advertising organizations. Microsoft has just replied. We are glad they aren’t in lock-step with the ever so transparent–and terrified of consumer protection policy–IAB. Here’s what they emailed me today:
Jeff,
Â
Thank you for your inquiry.
Â
As a company, Microsoft has not taken a position on the Consumer Protection Financial Agency bill. As a whole, the bill is directed at other industry sectors. Nor has Microsoft taken a position on the expansion of the Federal Trade Commission’s regulatory authority as proposed in that legislation.
Â
Microsoft has supported the expansion of FTC authority, including in our longtime support for comprehensive federal privacy legislation and in a recent legislative proposal on protecting consumers related to cloud computing, where we said that the FTC should play a key role. In the current environment, there ought to be better alternatives to guide the marketplace than de facto rulemaking through enforcement activity.
Â
It is our view that there is merit to having FTC rulemaking authority mirror that of other agencies — we favor increased certainty and the ability for comment on proposed rules that will impact our industry. At the same time, the reasons the FTC’s existing mechanisms were put in place (as articulated in the industry letter you cited) should not be ignored. Perhaps there is room for a balanced approach.
Â
We understand that the status of the financial reform bill may be uncertain, at least the status of the relevant provision in the Senate version of that legislation.
Â
We are open to discussing these issues further with you and other interested stakeholders.
Â
Sincerely,
Frank Torres
Director, Consumer Affairs
Civil Liberties, Consumer & Privacy Groups to FCC: Protect Privacy
The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Watchdog, Privacy Lives, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times, and U.S. PIRG told the FCC in a filing 22 January 2010 that: “There are significant problems concerning the collection and use of personal data by companies, especially sensitive data and children’s data; (2) The FCC should not rely on industry self-regulatory models because they do not adequately protect consumer privacy; and (3) The principles and standards that should serve as the foundation of consumer privacy protection should be the Fair Information Practices, especially as they are implemented in the OECD Guidelines on data privacy… The FCC should consider all avenues it may use to protect consumers, including exercising its ancillary jurisdiction to address broadband privacy issues, and working with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTCâ€), which has substantial expertise in consumer privacy protection.”
To learn more, click here.
Where Does Google and Microsoft Really Stand–with the IAB and ad lobby or for Consumer Protection?
Both Google and Microsoft serve on the executive committee of the Interactive Ad Bureau, a trade association fighting against consumer privacy proposals in Congress and the FTC. The IAB just sent a letter signed by other ad and marketing industry lobbyists opposing Obama and congressional proposals to expand the ability of the FTC to better protect consumers. My CDD just sent emails to officials at both Google and Microsoft asking them to clarify where they stand on the IAB’s letter [see below]. Do our two leading online marketing leaders support financial and regulatory reform, including protecting privacy? Or does the IAB letter–and Google and Microsoft’s own role helping govern that trade lobby group–really reflect their own position against better consumer protection? Not coincidently, the IAB’s PAC has expanded its PAC contribution giving to congress.
Why does the IAB and other ad groups want to scuttle a more capable FTC? Think online financial products, including mortgages, pharmaceutical operated social networks, digital ads targeting teens fueling the youth obesity crisis, ads created by brain research to influence our subconscious minds, a mobile marketing system that targets us because it knows our location, interests and behavior. The IAB is terrified that a responsible consumer protection agency will not only peek under the ‘digital hood,’ as the Obama FTC is currently doing. But actually propose policies and bring cases that rein in irresponsible and harmful business practices. So Microsoft and Google: who are with? Consumers or the special interest advertising lobby?
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letter to Google:Â 22 January 2010
Dear Pablo, Jane, Peter and Alan:
As you may know, the Interactive Advertising Bureau recently sent a letter to Congress, along with other ad related groups, opposing the expansion of FTC regulatory authority as proposed in the Consumer Financial Protection Agency bill and related reauthorization [http://www.clickz.com/3636212].
Google serves on the executive committee of the IAB’s board. For the record, does Google support IAB’s stance that, as news reports say, if the FTC is given additional enforcement and penalty-making authority, “the FTC could essentially act as an unelected legislature governing industries and sectors across the economy.”
If Google disagrees with the IAB’s letter, I ask that it make its position public as soon as possible. I also respectfully request Google state its position regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposal, as well as its position on expanding FTC authority.
Regards,
Jeff Chester
Center for Digital Democracy
www.democraticmedia.org
letter to Microsoft:Â 22 Jan. 2010:
Dear Mike and Frank:
As you may know, the Interactive Advertising Bureau recently sent a letter to Congress, along with other ad related groups, opposing the expansion of FTC regulatory authority as proposed in the Consumer Financial Protection Agency bill and related reauthorization [http://www.clickz.com/3636212].
Microsoft serves on the executive committee of the IAB’s board. For the record, does Microsoft support IAB’s stance that, as news reports say, if the FTC is given additional enforcement and penalty-making authority, “the FTC could essentially act as an unelected legislature governing industries and sectors across the economy.”
If Microsoft disagrees with the IAB’s letter, I ask that it make its position public as soon as possible. I also respectfully request Microsoft state its position regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposal, as well as its position on expanding FTC authority.
Regards,
Jeff Chester
Center for Digital Democracy
www.democraticmedia.org
Facebook’s Ad “Targeting Specs”–including your “Political Views,” whether you are “13” years old, or “Engaged”
We continue to tell both the FTC and EU regulators that the data collected and used by Facebook for its ad targeting system must be under the control of its users. Facebook is in the process of making its advertising API available to additional marketers (it’s been working with several large global ad agencies in a trial). Here’s what Facebook says advertisers can target: countries, cities, regions, genders, college networks, work networks, age minium [“Specify a minimum age to target. If used, this must be 13 or higher.”], age maximum, education status, college years, college majors, political views [“Use 1 for LIBERAL, 2 for MODERATE and 3 for CONSERVATIVE”], relationship status [“Use 1 for SINGLE, 2 for IN_RELATIONSHIP, 3 for MARRIED and 4 for ENGAGED.”], keywords [“Keywords are matched to user profile data to better target ads for example “movies” or “cars” can be used’], interested in, radius, connections [“Connections targeting allows you to target your ads to users who have become a fan of your Page, a member of your Group, RSVP’d to your Event or authorized your Application.”], excluded connections [“Excluded connections targeting allows you to target your ads to users who have not become fans of your Page, members of your Group, RSVP’d to your Event or authorized your Application.”], friends of connections [“An array of Facebook IDs. “Friends of connections” targeting allows you to target friends of your connections. Connections are fans of your Page, users who have RSVP’d Yes or Maybe to your Event, members of your Group, and users who have interacted with your Application.”], user event.
Facebook Boosts of its Brand Building Power, with Nielsen [“Brand Lift”] Research on the way to help
In a December 2009 interview in New Media Age, Facebook’s director for commercial marketing in the EMEA and UK market explained that [excerpt]: CPMs on our home page are three or four times those of Yahoo’s. On click-through, the engagement levels we’re getting are 10-15 times that. Not 10% more, 10-15 times Yahoo’s click-through rates. This is where we’re selling to P&G and those big brands. The other side of our business is performance: those little square boxes, ASUs [Ad Space Units], that appear everywhere except the home page. 80% of our inventory is driven through a self-service auction model. We’re on 50bn of them a month in the UK. That’s scale. And big brands are saying they’re getting more volume and lower cost than Google on Facebook right now…The big thing we’re bringing to the market in early Q1 is Nielsen-branded research, which will reveal what people are doing, using awareness consideration and favourability metrics that are important to branded advertising. We’ll be able to quantify this via Nielsen.“
Tracking Mobile Users by Behavior and Race: Why the FTC Must Address Mobile Privacy ASAP
Here’s a brief excerpt from the “The mobiThinking guide to mobile advertising networks 2010.” Our emphasis.
Microsoft Mobile Advertising: Targeting capabilities include device, demographic (gender, age, household income), geographic and behavior.
Advertising.com/AOL: Full suite of targeting options, including device, browser, operating system, carrier, on/off-deck, geography, time-segment, content, and multiple demographic combinations.
Nokia Interactive Advertising: Demographics, location, handset type, and in the US by channels (e.g. auto, news, sports.
Quattro Wireless: a) contextual: media type, channel, publisher; b) demographic: gender, age, ethnicity, education; c) location; d) mobile: carrier, device class, manufacturer, model, features, operating system, browser; e) frequency of exposure.
Jumptap: Jumptap offers 64 different targeting options including: demographic, geographic location, carrier, on/off-deck (operator portal), device types and browser, time of day, day of week, content category and frequency controls. These targeting parameters are derived from multiple data courses, including contextual information and true carrier subscriber information. Premium brand advertising guarantees the ad will appear on certain sections of chosen site at the time specified.
Millennial Media: Audience targeting: Millennial can uniquely identify a user across all sites on the network – they are grouped into audiences, based on their observed behaviors on sites, participation and review of click-stream data, so campaigns can be targeted at specific audiences. (Millennial discloses these techniques, with an opt-out in accordance with the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, July 2009). Advertisers can also do Run of Network (RON) campaigns or target by channel, custom subnet, takeover, network blocks or demographic. There is also targeting via geography, carrier, handset model/manufacturer/operating system, handset features, age of device, time of day, location, Wi-Fi, etc.
Facebook and Privacy: Why the FTC and EU Have to Become Our Real “Privacy Wizards”
Facebook is a very valuable tool. But its effort to harness more of its member data–and cloak it as a “privacy” approach–illustrates how out of touch Facebook is with the fundamental concept of personal privacy. That’s why the FTC and EU Privacy commissioners have to step in and act as Facebook’s true “privacy wizard.“ Left on its own, with its business interests driving Facebook to make our information available to them and their business partners, the privacy of 100 million US users (and even more globally) are at risk. Facebook cavalier approach that your “name, gender, current city, networks, Friend List and Pages” is considered by them “publicly available information” illustrates this. Facebook has framed these changes as beneficial to users, claiming that its “new, simplified privacy settings giver you more control over the information you share.”  Classic PR doublespeak with a Silicon Valley accent.
We have raised concerns about Facebook in the past–especially with Beacon and also with the third party apps (my CDD played a leading role providing information on the data collected by third party applications to the leading Canadian privacy group).  I asked Facebook officials to brief me and other privacy groups on the recent changes: that briefing was on Wednesday. I wanted Facebook to explain how its new privacy approach allowed its users to control data mined by Facebook and its third party developers used for interactive advertising and marketing. I was so appalled by what Facebook officials said at that meeting that, after some additional research into Facebook’s plans, my Center for Digital Democracy decided to join with EPIC and others in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission.
I was flabbergasted to hear Facebook officials claim that its new changes actually reflected “Fair Information Principles” for privacy. That in their view the concept of privacy has “evolved,” with users wanting to share all their information via what they call the “social graf.” Facebook officials said that only a few people (implying privacy advocates) wanted to have control over their information. That they didn’t consider allowing users to control the data collected on them for marketing and advertising purposes as part of a privacy regime. Data used for advertising–even to Minors–is considered outside of what a person should be able to control, in Facebook’s view.  They also suggested that those who didn’t appreciate what they called its privacy “permission” model were out of step.
Nothing was said by Facebook officials about the company’s real motivations for expanding its access to its user data (as if business reasons had nothing to do with Facebook’s approach to member privacy!). As InsideFacebook recently explained, “Last week, Facebook launched a major initiative geared towards getting users to share more information more openly…However, while many people don’t want to share much information publicly online today, some do. For those people, Facebook’s historical default privacy settings did not make it the right product for them. As a result, Facebook recognized that its default-private model made it vulnerable to other services with default-public models, like Twitter…Facebook’s decision to make the recommended privacy options for profile data like “Family and Relationships†and “Posts I Create†be set to “Everyone†– as well as its move to remove privacy controls for Gender, Current City, and Friends – were pretty aggressive by almost anyone’s standards. In particular, its decision to present users with a binary choice between “Everyone†and “Old Settings†for some privacy preferences was especially confusingly executed…Facebook isn’t satisfied with a mostly-private platform: it wants to be the single place where both sensitive personal information is shared and public memes spread…Facebook has shown, as recently as a few months ago with its launch of the “real-time†stream as the default News Feed, followed by its decision a few months later to go back to the algorithmic News Feed, that it is capable of making suboptimal product decisions due to intense feelings about services like Twitter…”
Relevant too are Facebook’s plans to enable its third party developers to gain access to more of its member data, including their email addresses. As Facebook explains on its “Roadmap” for developers, “We’re excited to announce that you will soon have the ability to ask users for their primary Facebook email addresses, providing you with a direct channel to communicate with your users.” At our briefing, Facebook officials said they were soon addressing third party apps and their access to data. But given Facebook’s failure to protect basic user privacy, we have serious doubts it will deal with data access by its developers.
CDD will be working to educate the FTC, EU privacy officials and others. Facebook is consciously devaluing the notion of privacy for its own interests. How Facebook deals with user data–including what is used for advertising–will be on the policy agenda. The complaint from EPIC, Consumer Federation of America, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, CDD and others opens the door for a serious examination of Facebook’s data collection practices.