Today, Rep. Ed Markey and Rep. Joe Barton sent a letter to the CEO of Charter Cable. They have acted quickly to help protect the privacy of Internet users and, in this case, Charter’s customers. Preventing ISPs from monitoring our online behaviors is important to fight for. More will be coming.
Category: Behavioral Targeting
Yahoo/WPP Alliance=More Data Collection via Targeting and Privacy Concerns
Regulators will need to examine the privacy implications of the new Yahoo and WPP alliance. When the display ad leader–Yahoo--links up with the global ad agency holding company powerhouse–WPP--data collection issues must come to the fore. Under the deal, explains Reuters, “WPP advertising agencies would, through its 24/7 Real Media arm, develop a proprietary advertising media trading platform that takes advantage of Yahoo’s Right Media exchange.” WPP’s “brands” include Ogilvy, Cheskin, Dentsu Y&R and many, many others.
WPP’s 24/7 says the following about its “comprehensive” targeting:
“Whoever you want to reach, we have targeting down to a science.
- Behavioural. We can serve ads based on your customer’s browsing behaviour.
- Demographic. We can target campaigns based on a number of demographic criteria such as race, age, income, sex, employment, education, and home ownership.
- Technographic. We can target based on browser, browser version, bandwith or operating system.
- Retargeting. We can flag visitors to a site based on what they did on their last visit, and then “retarget them†when they return.
- Geo-dem. We can overlay geographic data such as country, state or zip code with demographic information.
- Daypart. You can tell us what hour of the day or day of the week that you’d like an ad to be viewed.
- Content. You can choose specific sites, sections or positions on a page for ad placement.
- Keyword/search. We can serve ads based on specific words that are entered into a search engine by your customer.
- Custom. We can develop a comprehensive targeting strategy that is customised for whatever your marketing goal may be.”
Mind over our data: It was 24/7 that just announced it was also using “psychographic targeting through a partnership with Mindset Media…[that] will enable brand advertisers to target consumers with specific personality traits that drive buyer behavior and brand affinity across a broad range of consumer goods and services.”
From MediaPost’s coverage (excerpt):Â “ The multi-year deal will pair Yahoo’s Right Media ad exchange with the targeting prowess of WPP’s 24/7 Real Media, giving WPP agencies a more effective system for buying mass quantities of display inventory worldwide… WPP’s GroupM…will be able to access the platform directly through 24/7 Real Media and plug in various targeting options-… Ryan Jamboretz, director of corporate development at GroupM…said “[T]his only improves the product by allowing us to do things like behavioral and retargeting on a larger scale.”
source: Yahoo, WPP Partner to Buy, Sell Rich Media More Effectively.  Tameka Kee. Online Media Daily. May 15,2008.
Charter Cable to Spy on its Broadband Users to Serve Targeted Ads via NebuAd
We have long pointed out that deep-packed inspection can be used by ISPs to both eavesdrop on users and undermine the neutrality of the Internet. Via Wired and other sources we learn that “Charter Communications, one of the nation’s largest ISPs, plans to begin eavesdropping on the web surfing of its customers, in order to help web advertisers deliver targeted ads. In letters being sent to some of its 2.7 million high-speed internet customers, Charter is billing its new web tracking program as an “enhancement†for customers’ web surfing experience. The letters were first reported by a BroadbandReports.com user on Sunday. The pilot program is set to begin next month.â€Charter, using language straight out of Orwell’s 1984, claims it’s offering an “enhanced†service. Demonstrating its monopoly clout, Charter is imposing this service on an opt-out basis. Charter will be using, notes Wired, NebuAd. Here’s what NebuAd says it does (our emphasis): “NebuAd delivers the most actionable consumer intelligence by extending its reach dynamically to encompass the ever-growing network of sites that consumers visit. NebuAd combines this web-wide view of pages navigated, searches performed, ads clicked, etc., with the industry’s most accurate targeting capabilities, matching consumer interests across more than 1,000 categories…The result is behavioral advertising on a vast scale with a level of relevance that drives significantly improved response and engagement rates across all categories of advertisements.â€
Here’s what NebuAd told Behavioral Insider magazine last November (excerpt, our emphasis): “The kind of data we do aggregate includes Web search terms, page views, page and ad clicks, time spent on specific sites, zip code, browser info and connection speed…within this vast universe of information we create a map of interest categories, beginning with the widest definitions, auto, finance, education, what have you. But within those we can provide far greater granularity. So if you’re talking about auto, we can drill down into particular interest segments, say SUVs, luxury cars, minivans, and then even to particular brands or models. Within the interest category of travel, we can identify consumers interested in learning about Martinique, the south of France or Las Vegas.â€â€¦â€œISPs have been a neglected aspect of online’s evolution over the past several years. But the fact is the depth of aggregated data they have to offer, anonymous data, is an untapped source of incredible power… The conventional approach to behavioral targeting has been to place cookies on specific Web sites or pages. We’ve gone about it in a very different way. We place an appliance in the ISP itself. Therefore we’re able to get a 360-degree, multidimensional view over a long period of time of all the pages users visit. So what we’re really talking about for the first time is a truly user-focused, though still anonymous, targeting, taking the totality of anonymous behaviors rather than just a subset of sites on a network.†Here’s what NebuAd said in a November 2007 release: “NebuAd’s rich insight into consumer interests surpasses any other behavioral targeting solution and enables NebuAd to deliver precisely targeted ads that drive substantially increased value per impression…NebuAd’s deep insight into anonymous consumer commercial interests across the Internet, combined with its ability to micro-target the most relevant ad placements, brings a new level of value for advertisers, publishers and ISPs:..ISPs, who have up to now facilitated but barely participated in online advertising opportunities, can open new revenue streams that complement advertiser and publisher objectives to maximize revenue and generate higher revenue-per-subscriber.â€
Both the FTC and FCC must investigate Charter’s plan (and other ISP’s permit snopping schemes. Congress needs to hold oversight hearings as well). ISPs should not be in the business of letting online marketers have access to the rich informational personal data streams of their customers. Broadband providers such as Charter get paid handsomely already by their subscribers for connectivity (and also benefit from their monopoly status to secure lucrative `bundle’ packages from consumers). Charter, which has a checkered financial history, should not be allowed to weaken the privacy rights of U.S. consumers. Paul Allen, Charter’s chairman and the co-founder of Microsoft, should do better than this.
BT Watch: Tell me, is it the cookie or You that online marketers are “packaging” for targeting
How long can they get away with the “it’s anonymous” cover story as they identify, analyze, track and target our online interests and behaviors? Excerpt from Media magazine: “behavioral segmentation refers to a media seller’s packaging of groups of cookies who have visited sites (other than the client’s own) that suggest a need or receptivity for the client’s category of product. For example, all cookies that have visited automotive-related sites over the last 60 days may be packaged as a segment of people likely to be in the market for a new car…Predictive targeting uses more than behavior data…It uses mathematical algorithms to predict what a user will most likely interact with, and then learns and is adjusted based on the actual results...It is based on cataloging what a user has done in the past.”
source: Taking Measure: Savor the Flavor. John Nardone. May 2008
Eyebaster Tells the SEC about its business “to track Internet users and their online behavior” for profiling
Eyeblaster is a rich media online advertising technology company which filed a S-1 with the SEC last March (for an initial public offering). Here’s the section on privacy:
“Privacy concerns could lead to legislative and other limitations on our ability to collect usage data from Internet users, including limitations on our use of cookie or conversion tag technology and user profiling, which is crucial to our ability to provide our solutions and services to our customers.
Our ability to conduct targeted advertising campaigns and compile data that we use to formulate campaign strategies for our customers depends on the use of “cookies†and “conversion tags†to track Internet users and their online behavior, which allows us to build anonymous user profiles and measure an advertising campaign’s effectiveness. A cookie is a small file of information stored on a user’s computer that allows us to recognize that user’s browser when we serve advertisements. A conversion tag functions similarly to a banner advertisement, except that the conversion tag is not visible. Our conversion tags may be placed on specific pages of clients of our customers’ or prospective customers’ websites. Government authorities inside the United States concerned with the privacy of Internet users have suggested limiting or eliminating the use of cookies, conversion tags or user profiling. Bills aimed at regulating the collection and use of personal data from Internet users are currently pending in U.S. Congress and many state legislatures. Attempts to regulate spyware may be drafted in such a way as to include technology like cookies and conversion tags in the definition of spyware, thereby creating restrictions that could reduce our ability to use them. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce have conducted hearings regarding user profiling, the collection of non-personally identifiable information and online privacy.
Our foreign operations may also be adversely affected by regulatory action outside the United States. For example, the European Union has adopted a directive addressing data privacy that limits the collection, disclosure and use of information regarding European Internet users. In addition, the European Union has enacted an electronic communications directive that imposes certain restrictions on the use of cookies and conversion tags and also places restrictions on the sending of unsolicited communications. Each European Union member country was required to enact legislation to comply with the provisions of the electronic communications directive by October 31, 2003 (though not all have done so). Germany has also enacted additional laws limiting the use of user profiling, and other countries, both in and out of the European Union, may impose similar limitations…
If our ability to use cookies or conversion tags or to build user profiles were substantially restricted due to the foregoing, or for any other reason, we would have to generate and use other technology or methods that allow the gathering of user profile data in order to provide our services to our customers. This change in technology or methods could require significant reengineering time and resources, and may not be complete in time to avoid negative consequences to our business. In addition, alternative technology or methods might not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If the use of cookies and conversion tags are prohibited and we are not able to efficiently and cost effectively create new technology, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.”
See if you believe this Behavioral Targeter is really accessing “anonymous” info on you and your friends!
excerpt: “A behavioral targeting firm called Media6degrees said it’s engineered a workaround to the dual problems of data and relationship glut. Rather than look at a person’s friend list, the company uses a combination of cookies and ad server logs to pinpoint a person’s interests and generate anonymous profiles of her real friends… Media6degrees found an Internet analogy in referral information stored in ad server logs. Those logs can be made to cough up specific social networking profile pages an individual has visited recently by analyzing referring URL structures, which is potentially actionable information when juxtaposed with an action taken by the ad-clicker… Affinity groups of presumably anonymous individuals are created by grouping individuals who have visited the same set of profiles.”
But how does the firm get access to those server logs?… it partners with a network of advertisers that each volunteer to place a cookie on the browsers of Web users visiting its sites. Participating advertisers and site owners receive a small CPM to distribute its pixel.
“If you put up a media pixel on your site, we can not only help you retarget an individual who came to that site, but we can help you identify micro-affinity groups…”
source: New Firm Combines Social and Behavioral Ad Targeting. Zachary Rogers. ClickZ.com May 6, 2008
Do Androids Dream of Mobile Digital Ads? I’m Speaking at FTC next Tuesday on Mobile Marketing and Consumer Protection
The mobile marketing ecosystem, as its called by the industry, poses significant consumer protection and privacy concerns. Next week, the FTC is holding a two-day town hall meeting on mobile marketing. The commission has invited me to participate on the mobile advertising and marketing panel. The public and many policymakers are entirely unaware of what’s soon coming. The FTC and policymakers must do a better job both educating the public and asking them to speak out about how the marketing system should be structured. Safeguards will be required, including for youth. I will try and deliver a “click to call to action” overview.
IAB’s Response to Calls for Consumer Privacy Rules: Hire More Lobbyists to Protect the “Wild West” of Data Collection & Ad Targeting
Granted, the IAB’s Washington, D.C. lobbying shop, opened last year, is a small operation. Now the IAB is in the process of hiring a second person for the office. No doubt IAB wants to protect the data collection and micro-targeting digital turf of its members. Former Tacoda and Time Warner exec. Dave Morgan perhaps revealed why the political stakes are so high for IAB members such as Google, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, Disney, CBS, NY Times, Washington Post, etc. in Media Post. As Morgan explained, “.. Everybody now knows that data is the fuel for growth. Everyone is starting to mine it and make it available to third parties…The big four (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL’s Platform A) are all opening up their networks and systems to leverage third-party data; so are the ad servers like WPP’s 24/7 Real Media; and so are the ad networks…We’re moving into a wild, wild west in monetizing real-time marketing data, and we’re going to need many more people that know how to do this…As we see this data take on more value and play a bigger role in our industry, the public policy implications are going to become much more pronounced.”
The New York Times Tracks its Online Audience: Boolean Boola
We have long believed that the New York Times needs to explain to readers and users the range of digital marketing technologies and strategies it deploys. The Times (and its Times Digital) uses behavioral targeting and is currently working with Revenue Science. Revenue Science proudly proclaims that the “behaviors of more than 120 million individuals are tracked and aggregated from across the Internet.” Claiming it relies on “powerful Boolean logic” to propel its tracking and targeting effort, Revenue Science explains that it places users into discrete targeting segments “… based on multiple criteria that demonstrate interest or intent to buy. For example, to qualify for our automotive audience, users might read multiple articles and take specific actions such as filling out a loan calculator. Revenue Science uses Boolean logic to find and segment multilayered behaviors to reach the right audience…Revenue Science Targeting Marketplace connects people to engaging advertising with the most advanced behavioral and targeting capabilities available, and the marketers that choose Revenue Science benefit from advanced data intelligence to reach the right people, at the right time, every time.”
The Times Co. has been a leader in the online marketing arena for almost two decades now (as we explain in our book). Online is an important revenue segment for the Times Co. (as it must and should be for all newspapers). The Times “web analytics group” is looking for a “senior web analytics manager.” We think what such a person and the group does raises privacy and related issues. Here is an excerpt from the job announcement: “The New York Times web analytics group is responsible for measuring and understanding the largest and most influential online newspaper audience in the world… As a senior web analytics manager, you will be expected to:
• Deeply understand the NYTimes.com audience and their behavior
• Support the analytic needs of the company by using WebTrends and other analytical tools to understand trends in web traffic…
Work with the NYT customer insight group to coordinate and focus quantitative and qualitative analysis related to audience behavior…”
Ultimately, web analytics, tracking and targeting techniques will have an impact on journalism-some good, others not-so-good. When an online publication understands exactly what the most desirable demographic–or even individual–wants in terms of news, it will have an impact on news budgets, we believe. So think more entertainment and less serious journalism down the road. Not at places like the Times, we hope, but certainly at many other publications. But for newspapers to remain a credible source of information during this crucial transition phase for journalism, they must address the privacy and online marketing “ecosystem” they have embraced.
Senator Dorgan: remember the role of digitally targeted ads & FTC in subprime mortgage scandal
Last November, my CDD and USPIRG filed an amended complaint with the FTC asking it to crack down on behavioral targeting, including its role in the subprime mortgage lending crisis. We are glad Senator Dorgan and others raised concerns that the FTC is failing to do its job in this critical area. Online mortgage lending–and related financial matters–requires serious consumer safeguards. Online marketers–including search engines and social networks–have looked the other way while a great tragedy has befallen so many in the country. We are urging Senator Dorgan to examine the CDD/PIRG complaint, and help get the FTC and other regulators on the case.