We believe the rapidly evolving set of online technologies designed to track, profile and target us online, via PC and mobile networks, requires meaningful consumer protection safeguards. One emerging issue is how marketers, advertisers and others may use online tracking technologies, such as behavioral targeting, to “screen†out consumers they consider “undesirable.†In another words, engage in a form of digital redlining. Marketers are now discussing how to use the knowledge they have about each of us to avoid what they consider to be unprofitable customers (such as those that use coupons or demand lower prices). “Audience screening,†as marketers are calling some of their newer interactive ad techniques, permit companies to simply bypass marketing to consumers who don’t fit in to their view of what may be profitable. The CEO of Best Buy termed such customers “devils†[sub. may be required] in a 2004 Wall Street Journal story. As the president of one marketing firm just explained in his article “Using BT to Dodge the Undesirable,†[I]f we know a lot about our least profitable (or even unprofitable) customers, how long before we use that information to develop profiles that help us skip over the deal-seekers and tire kickers? …Conceivably, an online electronics retailer could profile its customers in a number of different ways to identify the devils. Logfile, site analytics and customer purchase history data could easily provide information on which customers repeatedly redeem coupons and promotional codes featured in deal-seeker newsletters like GotApex? or Fatwallet.com. We could also index profitability against purchase history for every customer in a retail database, or look to external resources to see where the devils might be coming from. A few relatively simple algorithms could easily limit exposure to unprofitable customers.â€
Other technologies are also available to help companies screen us out. For example, the web marketing firm X 1’s “progressive optimization engine†[POE] enables companies to “make actionable decisions from massive amounts of complex interacting data…POE uses a wide variety of data (anonymous geo-demographic info, end-user behavior, client-provided customer data, third-party data, etc.) to profile end users and to track anonymously their online behavior and responsiveness.†As X 1’s CEO explained last summer, “If you combine the best attributes of behavioral targeting with a number of different technologies including progressive optimization and the more advanced audience profiling engines you can accomplish what we call audience screening. Audience screening allows the advertiser to identify the audience represented from an impression on a network or a portal and determine if that audience member is more or less likely to act in response to an advertisement than the general audience. If the audience member is regarded as highly desirable, then the ads are exposed. If the audience member is not deemed highly desirable, then they are not exposed to the ad and the next sequential audience member is evaluated for desirability and match to the potential customer base for the advertiser.â€
So, you ask: what’s the harm? I just won’t see an ad and can go about my business online. But we all know it’s more complicated than that. As we are classified and as our profiles are shared online, too many people will know about us. They will know as well what others think they know about us—such as if we are considered a “devil.†Some of us may be allowed to see valuable editorial content—even important news—because we are considered a valuable demographic target. Whole classes of people could be placed on an undesirable list—think of those Americans struggling to just make it economically and can’t readily afford the e-commerce lifestyle. Decisions about online targeting and segmentation practices can’t be permitted to be solely in the hands of marketers and the ad lobby. There is a role for public policy—now. We hope State Attorney’s General, Congress, consumer advocates and the FTC will take notice.
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