Category: European Commission

Bravo to Public Voice’s “Global Privacy Standards for a Global World” Madrid Declaration

Last week, NGO’s and activists from across the world met in Madrid Spain to discuss threats to privacy and human rights.  It was part of the Public Voice’s excellent work to ensure that civil society is well represented in the debates over privacy and other digital media issues.  Over 100 NGO’s, including my own CDD, were initial endorsers of the “Global Privacy Standards for a Global World” Madrid Declaration. It was well received by policy makers, including the data protection commissioner community.  The all day meeting and related efforts was organized by the remarkable Katitza Rodriquez.  Bravo to her and everyone involved.

The Declaration and related work at the Data Protection conference provided a much needed counter-balance to the failure of leading online companies to seriously address their data collection practices and plans.

“Cookie Wars, Real-Time Targeting, and Proprietary Self Learning Algorithms: Why the FTC Must Act Swiftly to Protect Consumer Privacy”

That’s the title of comments filed at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by my Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. PIRG.  I also just gave a presentation with the same name at last week’s meeting of data protection commissioners in Madrid, Spain.   It’s available here.

Here’s an excerpt:   Today, consumers online face the rapid growth and ever-increasing sophistication of the various techniques advertisers employ for data collection, profiling, and targeting across all online platforms. The growth of ad and other optimization services for targeting, involving real-time bidding on ad exchanges; the expansion of data collection capabilities from the largest advertising agencies (with the participation of leading digital media content and marketing companies); the increasing capabilities of mobile marketers to target users via enhanced data collection; and a disturbing growth of social media surveillance practices for targeted marketing are just a few of the developments the commission must address. But despite technical innovation and what may appear to be dramatic changes in the online data collection/profiling/targeting market, the commission must recognize that the underlying paradigm threatening consumer privacy online has been constant since the early 1990’s. So-called “one-to-one marketing,” where advertisers collect as much as possible on individual consumers so they can be targeted online, remains the fundamental approach.

Facebook: “selling fans between $4 and $10” to Brands and others

The Facebook economy—built on allowing marketers to harness what’s called the “social graph”–is big business (and will grow as consumers also buy more virtual goods).  AllFacebook reports that:

“When the Facebook platform launched two and a half years ago a massive cost per install economy sprouted up. Whether it was individual developers looking for more users or large brands looking to expand the user base of their branded applications, money was flowing…There are entire ad networks still supported by the cost per install economy…So how much do fans sell for? There’s a wide range but I’ve heard Facebook is selling fans between $4 and $10. That adds up to substantial revenue for Facebook. For example, let’s assume that the top 100 advertisers each want to purchase 100,000 fans. Theoretically Facebook could generate $100 million just from the top 100 advertisers. As you move down the long tail the numbers begin to add up quickly.”

source:  If Brands Want Fans, Facebook Will Sell Them Fans.  Nick O’Neill.  AllFacebook.  Oct. 20, 2009.

AAAA Letter to DoJ on Microsoft/Yahoo Deal: `Mad’ Merger Men & Women Missing Some Truth in Advertising

The 4A’S advertising trade and lobby organization sent a letter to the Department of Justice yesterday supporting the Microsoft/Yahoo search merger deal.  Among the five signatories from some of the biggest and most powerful ad companies was the head of the Publicis Groupe. But missing from the `approve this deal’ letter was any acknowledgment that Publicis is a partner of Microsoft–something we and other consumer groups have asked the DoJ to investigate as part of its review.

The recent deal between Microsoft and Publicis includes the sale of Razorfish, combined online ad activities and also data sharing.   In addition, Microsoft is expected to own 3% of Publicis after the deal closes, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The letter to the DoJ should have disclosed this and other conflicts of interest.

Neuromarketing Hollywood style [inc. Fox!]: “This allows our clients to see what their audience is seeing and feeling, not what they say they’re seeing and feeling”

The intrepid Variety columnist Brian Lowry took readers on a tour of a neuromarketing outfit that works for show-biz companies, among others.  Here’s a excerpt:

Innerscope Research was birthed just three years ago, but the company has already found various entertainment and advertising clients for its biometric research, which employs eye-tracking technology as well as EKG monitors to gauge subconscious response along four key criteria: heart rate, breathing, moisture levels (or sweat) and movement.

“It’s very hard for people to accurately reflect their internal world,” says Innerscope CEO Carl Marci, noting that 75% of brain processing “is below conscious awareness.”…they have notched a number of entertainment clients looking to augment traditional research, including Fox, NBC and Discovery, along with a growing number of advertisers…Biometrics thus provides a diagnostic tool, able to pinpoint physical reactions to specific moments that the viewer might not even realize…Innerscope’s findings have included the revelation that people exhibit emotional responses as they fast-forward through commercial pods, meaning that ads are still registering to those viewing via TiVo or another digital video recorder. The company can also pinpoint whether a movie trailer, say, is generating the sort of “emotional engagement” that marketers hope to achieve.

“This allows our clients to see what their audience is seeing and feeling, not what they say they’re seeing and feeling,” Marci explains [Innerscope CEO Carl Marci].

source:  The future of focus group testing/This test gets under your skin.  Brian Lowry.  Variety.  October 5-11, 2009,

“Behavioral targeting, by camouflaging the tracking of consumers, can damage the perceived trustworthiness of an e-commerce site or the actor it represents”

That’s from an important new research paper by Professor Catherine Dwyer of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Pace University.  “Behavioral Targeting: A Case Study on Consumer Tracking on Levis.com” was presented at the 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems.   We have sent the paper to Congress, the European Commission and the FTC.  In its summary, Prof. Dwyer explains that:

In order to illustrate the nature of consumer tracking, a case study was conducted that examined behavioral targeting within Levis.com, the e-commerce site for the Levis clothing line. The results show the Levis web site loads a total of nine tracking tags that link to eight third party companies, none of which are acknowledged in the Levis privacy policy. Behavioral targeting, by camouflaging the tracking of consumers, can damage the perceived trustworthiness of an e-commerce site or the actor it represents.

Online Ad Networks Targeting Teens: Time for new privacy safeguards

Teens are a major focus of online advertising.  We have asked Congress and the FTC to develop safeguards to ensure adolescents have their privacy protected.  As part of the public debate, it’s useful to review how online ad networks target teen users.  Here are some examples:

Betawave (its 12-17 targeting service):  “If it feels like it’s impossible to capture the attention of today’s short-attention-span teenager, we’d beg to differ. On average, teenagers spent 15 mins per session on our publisher sites and 73.7 mins per month. More importantly, their mindstate is highly receptive to advertising with stats 118% higher than industry average and 158% more likely to agree that advertisements influence their purchase decisions…What’s our secret? Our selection of casual games, virtual worlds, and social play sites that are in touch with their Teen and Tween audiences. We know how to create content to hold the attention of the American Teenager, but to also keep them coming back for more…Our Teen and Tween audience consumes all types of different media, but is addicted to the Internet. The content of our sites appeal to the “Influencers” — the kids who assert their preferences with parents and peers and impact the behavior of others…“Virtual World Integration:  Imagine a marketing vehicle where users embrace sponsorship, where they constantly ask for more brands, and where advertising is seen as a validation of their community. Virtual worlds offer this experience to savvy marketers…Integrate your product into virtual worlds, and turn casual observers into brand champions.”

Kiwibox teen network [Burst Network]:  “Kiwibox Teen Network, brought to you by Burst Network, is the premier online vehicle for advertisers looking to target the teenage audience of girls and guys that are currently in high school or college. The anchor site for the network, Kiwibox.com, is a popular social networking destination and online magazine for teens…

As a member of Kiwibox Teen Network, your site will get the attention of popular brand marketers and attract high CPM campaigns. Advertisers on Kiwibox Teen Network will include the best brand names in consumer electronics, telecom, entertainment, apparel/footwear, snacks and beverages, retail, beauty products, and fast food…Kiwibox Teen Network supports several types of Rich Media layer ad units, including Interstitials, Superstitials, Floating, Synchronized and In-Person Rovion ads. We have partnerships with the top Rich Media vendors like PointRoll, Eyewonder, EyeBlaster, Unicast, Interpoll, and Atlas… “

Yahoo tells Advertisers: “We even know their online user behaviour and when they are ready to buy” [Annals of Behavioral Targeting]

Via Yahoo’s UK site:

Precision is where the real value lies. We know what our users are interested in. We also know their demographics, geographics and psychographics. We even know their online user behaviour and when they are ready to buy. So we can find you whoever you fancy and you won’t be bothered by anyone you don’t.

The “Hidden Persuaders” returns with the growing role of Neuromarketing: “Your message or materials will be absorbed directly into the consumer’s subsconscious” [Annals of Mass Micro-Persuasion]

As we have explained to policymakers in the US and EU, the growing use of neuroscience techniques requires government scrutiny and regulatory safeguards. Even political campaigns appear to be using such methods.  No one should be permitted, in my opinion, to devise any public effort that is designed to deliberately influence the unconscious part of our brain.

Here’s an except from a research paper by a Nielsen backed neuromarketing firm called Neurofocus.   The paper is “Absorption:  How Messages Morph into Meaning And Value in The Mind,” and was written by Dr. A. K. Pradeep.  [published September 2008]

Engagement brings you to the threshold. Absorption carries you beyond, to the state where your message or other material has been fully taken in by the consumer’s brain... Full absorption is also when your message or materials or retail environment, etc. return the highest rate of impact and value for your investment. But neuroscientific research demonstrates that you cannot, and will not, reach that goal consistently and most effectively unless and until you understand how the brain actually functions, and you shape your messages/material /environment accordingly.

For example, as I cited above, we have identified 67 specific ‘best practices’ that should be implemented when words and images are presented on a screen (any screen, from a TV or PC to a mobile phone or movie theater). They are the result of advanced neurological research into various brain functions, and especially research that has delved into the mysteries of diseases like Alzheimer’s, and brain conditions like ADD/ADHD, obsessive/compulsive behavior, and bipolar disorder.

Follow these best practices, give the brain what it wants and likes most, and you stand the best chance of success for your brand and your investment. Your message or materials will be absorbed directly into the consumer’s subconscious, where we can measure them for their effectiveness at the level devoid of any ‘outside’ contaminating influences like education, language, cultural ethnicity or other factors.





Coca Cola Collects Pictures of Faces for its “Database” using Facebook. What About Privacy?

Coca Cola has developed what it calls a “Facial Profiler” as part of a online marketing campaign.  The idea is that it will help identify people that look like you.  Here’s what the Coca Cola site says:

“Facial Profiler is a one-of-a-kind app that matches and connects people via Facebook.  But before we can do it, we need to compile a database of faces around the world.  So add your photo to the database.  The sooner it’s filled, the sooner we can unlock the results.”

Does CIA now also stand for Coke Intelligence Agency?  Will Coca Cola link people’s faces with its other forms of data collection, like MyCoke rewards?