FTC/FDA Need to Protect Health Privacy Online–Look at what personal medical info one health site asks

The online marketing of health and medical related services require urgent and serious scrutiny–from regulators, the Congress and the Obama Administration.  CDD’s recent complaint on digital pharma marketing and advertising addresses this issue.  But action is required.  Take for example, an email we received today from Quality Health/Allergies, promoting a “guide to help you sleep.”  In order to get the guide, you are asked to provide information.  Look at this one example and ask yourself.  Aren’t safeguards required to govern the collection and use of such information.  The newsletter features the TRUSTe seal which should raise questions about how effective that group’s work is protecting privacy.

Even more questions, inc. ones about specific drug brands, was asked that what we have below.  Here’s an excerpt from the questionnaire:

Simply respond to the questions below to continue.
1.     Are you (or someone in your household) going to the doctor in the next 30 days to discuss any of the following conditions below?
Alzheimer’s Disease (Moderate-to-Severe)
Bipolar Disorder
Child with Asthma
Chronic Dry Eyes
Diabetes
Osteoarthritis
Parkinson’s Disease
Rheumatoid Arthritis (Moderate-to-Severe)
Sjögren’s Syndrome
Other Condition
No appointment scheduled
Are you the Alzheimer’s Disease patient or the caregiver?
Patient
Caregiver
Can QualityHealth send you a FREE email series with important questions to ask the doctor to properly manage the Bipolar Disorder condition?
Look for this short email series over the next few weeks – check your inbox.
Yes
No
Can QualityHealth send you a FREE email series with important questions to ask the doctor to properly manage the Asthma condition?
Look for this short email series over the next few weeks – check your inbox.
Yes
No
Can QualityHealth email you a FREE email series with important questions to ask the doctor to properly manage the Dry Eyes condition?
Look for this short series over the next few weeks – check your inbox.
Yes
No
Does this person also have any of the following symptoms?
Chronic fatigue
Depression
Lack of energy
Excessive Sleepiness
Snoring
Poor concentration
Yes
No
Can QualityHealth send you a FREE email series with important questions to ask the doctor to properly manage the Osteoarthritis condition?
Look for this short email series over the next few weeks – check your inbox.
Yes
No
Can QualityHealth send you a FREE email series with important questions to ask the doctor to properly manage the Parkinson’s Disease?
Look for this short email series over the next few weeks – check your inbox.
Yes
No
Can QualityHealth send you a FREE email series with important questions to ask the doctor to properly manage the Sjögren’s Syndrome?
Look for this short email series over the next few weeks – check your inbox.
Yes
No
2.     Do you or a loved one feel tired or sleepy because of: (Check all that apply)
A non-traditional work schedule (includes working nights, evenings, rotating or split shifts or anything other than a normal day shift)
Shift Work Disorder
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, which is treated with a breathing device
Narcolepsy (sudden uncontrollable urge to sleep)
None of the above
3.     Have you or someone you love been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation, or AFib?
Yes, I have
Yes, a loved one has
No
4.     Do you or someone in your household have Diabetes?
Yes, myself
Yes, someone in my household
No
5.     Do you have any of the following conditions?
(Please check all that apply)
Diabetes
High Blood Pressure
High Cholesterol
Heart Attack
Stroke
Unstable Angina
Smoking or Used to Smoke
PAD (Peripheral Artery Disease)
None of the above
6.     Do you or someone you care for have Psoriasis?
Yes, myself
Yes, someone I care for
No
7.     Do you have any of the following conditions?
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Panic Disorder (PD)
None of the above
8.     Have you or someone you care for been diagnosed with Cancer?
Yes
No
9.     Do you have a child (under 18) who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
Yes
No
10.     Have you or someone you care for had a “mini-stroke” (transient ischemic attack or TIA) or stroke due to a blood clot?
Yes, myself
Yes, someone I care for
No

Consumers Union Supports our call for FTC action on digital pharma & health marketing

My CDD is very pleased to have received a copy of this letter sent to the FTC and FDA by Consumers Union.  It underscores how the issues around sensitive data and sensitive users are a critical part of consumer protection online.  We are also pleased about the positive coverage our complaint has received from the press, including the New York Times, CBS/Moneywatch, and other publications.

December 1, 2010

Chairman Jon Leibowitz

Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC  20580

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Consumers Union, the independent, non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, urges the Federal Trade Commission to accept the request of November 23, 2010 from several petitioners “to investigate unfair and deceptive advertising practices that consumers face as they seek health information and services online.”

The very detailed 144-page filing is by the Center for Digital Democracy, U.S. PIRG, Consumer Watchdog, and the World Privacy Forum. Among the companies named in the complaint are Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, WebMD, Quality Health, Everyday Health, and Health Central. The complaint explains how non-traditional pharmaceutical advertising on the internet and elsewhere uses a wide range of tools and disguises to convince consumers to use various drug products. These advertisements frequently hide the fact that they are funded by the drug manufacturer and they often fail to give any hint of side effects or possible adverse events from use of the drugs.

We have not independently examined each of the documents cited in the complaint or the context in which they were used. But the documents are overwhelmingly explicit in their description of how to take information consumers would consider very private (the decision to type in a health-related word or phrase on a website) and consciously and unconsciously manipulate those consumers into the use of specific prescription drug products.

The mass of documents in the complaint are shocking in their totality and their implication for privacy and the use of pharmaceuticals with potentially dangerous side effects or questionable efficacies.

We urge the Commission to begin an immediate investigation pursuant to the requests in the complaint. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

William Vaughan

Health Policy Analyst

Five Ways to Protect Privacy

[a version we wrote of this ran in Multichannel News]
Five Ways for Digital Marketers to Protect Consumer Privacy

If George Orwell were writing today, 1984’s Winston Smith would be working as a “Doublespeak” specialist crafting privacy policies and creating self-regulatory regimes.  That’s not what consumers and citizens need in the interactive marketing era.   All Americans should have their privacy respected and protected when they go online—including when they use mobile phones.

1.     Tell your users what you actually say to your advertisers—about how the profiling and targeting process really works.  There is a disconnect that is unfair and deceptive between what companies say in their privacy policies and pitch to their clients and potential partners.   Be honest about the “360 degree” ways you engage in online marketing.

2.     Don’t collect information and target consumers based on their interests in finance and health.  These two most “sensitive” categories should be opt-in only.   When consumers go online for loans, credit, mortgages, and health concerns they require the upmost privacy.  Although online financial, health and so-called lead-generation advertising is big business, consumers should not be forced to have their online financial and health behavior stealthfully-tracked and compiled.  The risks to consumers are great if we don’t develop special rules for this data.

3.     Racial and ethnic profiling data should also be opt-in. Hispanics, African-Americas, Asian-Americans and other minorities are increasingly the focus of a growing behavioral targeting and online marketing apparatus.  In the “offline” world, we have witnessed a disturbing use of racial profiling practices to discriminate against individuals.  In today’s online environment, users are being identified as being a member of a racial or ethnic group without either their awareness or consent.  While we all want to see the growth of diversely owned online publishing, it should not be done at the expense of civil liberties in the digital era.  We must prevent the growth of online racial profiling, that when tied to income, geography and other data can be used to create 21st Century forms of discrimination.

4.     Don’t use neuromarketing and other subliminal and subconscious-based advertising.   Fortune 1000 advertisers and online marketers such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Google are using new forms of ad testing and development involving the latest tools of neuroscience, such as fMRI’s and EEGs.  Neuromarketing’s goal is to directly influence a consumer’s subconscious, and when combined with the power of online data targeting,  offers powerful—and frightening—new forms of manipulation.

5.     Users need to consent to having their profiles be bought and sold on so-called online ad exchanges.  Selling off the right to target a consumer online, via real-time auctions that happen in milliseconds, is dehumanizing.  Nor should we permit the growing combination of offline and online databases to be used for targeting, including via these new digital auction houses.

Interactive marketing is now a fundamental operating principle for the cross-platform media economy throughout the world.   But right now, it’s a digital “wild west” that doesn’t serve the interests of consumers, citizens and most marketers.

What AOL Should Have Told Reps. Barton & Markey


AOL also describes to Reps. Barton and Markey the way they use cookies that doesn’t reflect what they say to clients--such as “Target users based on attributes from user registration or third-party data (e.g. age, gender, income, kids)… Retarget users who visit your website… Target users within households using Experian’s statistical modeling based on hundreds of offline data elements that are most predictive for defining the specific audience of consumers.” For question 1, they refer to their privacy policy—something few consumers would read or understand.  Nor does the privacy policy spell out how AOL collects and targets users, as they do for potential clients.  See and compare to privacy policy. See how they offer targeting based on political information.

Question 2:  They didn’t answer completely.  They should have included information from here. And what their partners collect.

Question 3.  They should have said they urge advertisers to use pixels, beacons and other tracking tools:   “Place pixels on all high-traffic pages… Target broadly… Most networks, including Advertising.com, look at IP or cookie data to determine if a user is part of a specific demographic or has demonstrated a particular online behavior, such as shopping for a car, browsing cooking sites, and so on. With user targeting, you reach those consumers directly, regardless of the sites they happen to be visiting.”

And they say that the third party cookies don’t identify the “specific user.”  But that’s what AOL says it can target:  “Target users within households… Retarget users who visit your website… Target users within households that demonstrate the highest propensity to buy certain products…”

Question 7.  They don’t say what they do.  It’s monetizing all the data:  “We monetize nearly 1.5 billion impressions per day on average.”

10.  They should have said how they target based on financial and health info.  They didn’t.  See its targeting for health, finance, teens, Hispanics, African-Americans.


14.   Users don’t have enough information on the process to really determine whether they should opt-out.  Nor is AOL’s opt-out really visible.

The new Self-Reg Online Ad Plan–Digital “Deja-vu” All Over Again! See What they Say about the NAI Now!

In 1999, online marketers promised consumers they would protect their privacy.  Leading interactive ad companies created the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) as a scheme to head-off proposals by the FTC that would help regulate online profiling.  Now it turns out, says the online ad industry, the NAI really couldn’t work.  So they have developed yet another self-regulatory effort.  Here’s what online marketers told Ad Week today:  “The move marks the most significant regulation the industry has imposed on companies and goes significantly farther than the Network Advertising Initiative, which held third-party advertisers needed to allow consumers to opt out. Doing so, however, was a cumbersome process.“   So the industry didn’t tell the FTC or consumers that the NAI wasn’t consumer friendly and “cumbersome.”  Yet they have used the NAI as a political bulwark to head-off consumer protection rules.  Shame on them.  Meanwhile, in the same story, it’s revealed that only now–as pressure mounts to protect online consumers—does the industry recognize protecting privacy is important:  “The guys that drive the industry have figured out this privacy stuff does matter,” said Scott Meyer, CEO of Better Advertising Project, which will help companies comply with the requirements.

The new “aboutads.info” website established by the industry fails to provide consumers serious information about cookies and behavioral targeting and profiling.  It reveals how little the industry is committed to protecting privacy and informing U.S. consumers about the process.  To see how this new plan is really designed to protect the data collection business, examine the rules for sensitive information. Beyond the children’s privacy law (COPPA) we got enacted in 1998, this scheme permits full-scale collection and use of financial and health information.   Under the “new” self-reg policies, the narrowest of definitions for respecting your financial and health information has been created:  “Entities should not collect and use financial account numbers, Social Security numbers, pharmaceutical prescriptions or medical records about a specific individual for OBA without Consent.”
Shame on them.  Online marketers spent some $3 billion last year on online financial marketing and will spend $1 billion for pharma and health related targeting in 2010. Consumer data collected by online financial and health marketers, much of which is sensitive and personal, is ok under the industry’s “new” plan.

PS:  The folks at Better Advertising need to take a course in online marketing–and change its new website so it really informs consumers about the process.  What it has now would get a C-minus in any class on online marketing.  They can start with 360 degree targeting, online and offline profiling, rich media, a serious description of online auctions, the tracking process, work on “engagement” and neuromarketing,” social media marketing, etc.  Consumers deserve better.

The new “Digital Advertising Alliance” self-reg plan. See if it tells consumers what its sponsor ad groups really say to each other. That they track and target your “digital footprint”

On Monday, the new self-regulation magical “icon” that is designed to make the online ad industry’s privacy problems disappear will be unveiled.  A new group called the “Digital Advertising Alliance” will unveil the icon-based plan–all timed to help head-off the kinds of protections and safeguards consumers require.  The current financial crisis affecting tens of millions of Americans require that government and big business groups do more than pay digital lip service to consumer protection.

As a kind of litmus test for the new self-regulation effort, see if the icon and the information connected to it really informs you about how data on you is collected and used for profiling, tracking and targeting. For example, last week, the Interactive Advertising Association (IAB), one of the key backers of the new Alliance, released a guide to targeting consumers at the local level.  Here’s excerpts of what they say.  See if that little icon is being honest when you click it.  Of course, we really require rules that eliminate the kind and amount of data that can be collected on you and you family and friends in the first place–as well as honest disclosure on the process.  Note as well that all that data on you is expensive–and others are cashing in on information that belongs to you!  From the new “Targeting Local Markets” guide:

Explicit profile data Targeting. definition–
Explicit data is “registration quality data” collected either online or offline. For online registration data, the user has certain attributes in his or her registration profile at a particular site or service, and that data is associated with the user’s Web cookie or some sort of audience database when the user next logs in. Offline registration data includes the sorts of data held in the massive offline direct response industry databases built up over the last several decades. These are then matched to a user online when that user logs in somewhere that is a partner of the data company. The site at which the user logs in, usually an online mail or similar site, sends the name/email combination to the data company, which then makes the match and sends back data…pricing–In general, first party data commands a far more variable premium than third party data…Third party data is usually available in much larger quantities, and yet there is often a fee of anywhere between $0.50 to $2.00 or more paid to the data provider by the ad seller – thus increasing the cost of goods sold (COGS) on the ad, and therefore increasing the price…

Behavioral Targeting (Implicit profile data Targeting)-definition-
Behavioral Targeting is the ability to serve online advertising based on profiles that are inferred from an individual user’s technical footprint and viewing behavior…As the medium has grown from a “browsing” experience to interactional so have the levels of information gathered. Newer forms of information include the data collected about influences, social preferences through social networks and an individual user’s content created online…The data is often gathered in real-time and can be used for real-time decision-making so that relevant advertising can be delivered dynamically to an individual user during their online session…Behaviorally targeted advertising commands a higher price because of targeted placement versus general run-of-site (ROS) advertising…Behavioral Targeting can be highly accurate when the user is leaving a digital footprint of their activities as they move through the Web.

Online Marketers, Privacy & Self-Regulation: “Repeatedly Failed Promises Syndrome”

To help undermine the impact of the forthcoming FTC proposal to protect consumer privacy, a coalition of online ad lobby groups will unveil yet another self-regulation plan.  According to Mediapost, online consumers will soon see “[I]cons to signify behavioral advertising — or serving ads based on people’s Web activity.”  Since 1999, online ad groups have rolled out self-regulatory regimes promising to protect consumers online.  Each has failed to do so.   This new effort involves the very same groups and companies that offered self-regulatory promises in the past.   For example, see the World Privacy Forum’s report on the failure of the Network Advertising Initiative’s self-reg schemes; that group is part of the new effort, btw.

This new effort is seriously flawed–and before marketers and advertisers adopt it, it must be independently evaluated by consumer groups, independent academics, and the FTC.  We believe that the system will fail to protect consumers–because it will not candidly inform them about how the data is collected and used.  Meanwhile, in a revealing flip-flip, the IAB’s UK counterpart deep-sixed its just released safeguard on retargeting.  According to a new report, “[O]nline advertising trade body the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has withdrawn a code of practice which recommended that behavioural advertising retargeting cookies should expire after 48 hours. The IAB’s Affiliate Marketing Council (AMC) published the code last week. It applied to the practice of ‘retargeting’ web users who had visited a site with ads for that site on other people’s websites, using cookies to track their movements and activities…That code has been withdrawn and will be reworked after further industry consultation, though, the IAB said. The code has disappeared from the IAB’s website.”

Consumers and citizens require real safeguards governed by law and regulation–not flimsy digital promises designed to sanction ever-expanding data collection practices.

Google’s Ad Targeting on Finance & Health via its Exchange: Do you know this?

Google tells users, policymakers and reporters that its “ad preference manager” is an effective consumer tool that addresses behavioral marketing.  But on its Doubleclick Ad Exchange, advertisers can use Google provided tools to target online consumers based on a wide range of product and issue “vertical” categories, including health and finance.  Here’s what Google says advertisers can target in the health and financial area.  Ask yourself.  Did you know this and shouldn’t all this be truly transparent, under full user control, with real safeguards about how such information can be obtained and used?  We do. Google isn’t the only one doing this, of course:
Doubleclick Category Targeting Codes:
category::Finance
category::Finance>Accounting & Auditing
category::Finance>Accounting & Auditing>Tax Preparation & Planning
category::Finance>Banking
category::Finance>Credit & Lending
category::Finance>Credit & Lending>Auto Financing
category::Finance>Credit & Lending>College Financing
category::Finance>Credit & Lending>Credit Cards
category::Finance>Credit & Lending>Debt Management
category::Finance>Credit & Lending>Home Financing
category::Finance>Currencies & Foreign Exchange
category::Finance>Financial Planning
category::Finance>Grants & Financial Assistance
category::Finance>Insurance
category::Finance>Insurance>Auto Insurance
category::Finance>Insurance>Health Insurance
category::Finance>Insurance>Home Insurance
category::Finance>Investing
category::Finance>Investing>Commodities & Futures Trading
category::Finance>Retirement & Pension

Health
category::Health
category::Health>Aging & Geriatrics
category::Health>Aging & Geriatrics>Alzheimer’s Disease
category::Health>Alternative & Natural Medicine
category::Health>Alternative & Natural Medicine>Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine
category::Health>Alternative & Natural Medicine>Cleansing & Detoxification
category::Health>Health Conditions
category::Health>Health Conditions>AIDS & HIV
category::Health>Health Conditions>Allergies
category::Health>Health Conditions>Arthritis
category::Health>Health Conditions>Cancer
category::Health>Health Conditions>Cold & Flu
category::Health>Health Conditions>Diabetes
category::Health>Health Conditions>Ear Nose & Throat
category::Health>Health Conditions>Eating Disorders
category::Health>Health Conditions>GERD & Digestive Disorders
category::Health>Health Conditions>Genetic Disorders
category::Health>Health Conditions>Heart & Hypertension
category::Health>Health Conditions>Infectious Diseases
category::Health>Health Conditions>Infectious Diseases>Parasites & Parasitic Diseases
category::Health>Health Conditions>Infectious Diseases>Vaccines & Immunizations
category::Health>Health Conditions>Injury
category::Health>Health Conditions>Neurological Disorders
category::Health>Health Conditions>Obesity
category::Health>Health Conditions>Pain Management
category::Health>Health Conditions>Pain Management>Headaches & Migraines
category::Health>Health Conditions>Respiratory Conditions
category::Health>Health Conditions>Respiratory Conditions>Asthma
category::Health>Health Conditions>Skin Conditions
category::Health>Health Conditions>Sleep Disorders
category::Health>Health Education & Medical Training
category::Health>Health Foundations & Medical Research
category::Health>Medical Devices & Equipment
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services>Doctors’ Offices
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services>Hospitals & Treatment Centers
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services>Medical Procedures
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services>Medical Procedures>Medical Tests & Exams
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services>Medical Procedures>Surgery
category::Health>Medical Facilities & Services>Physical Therapy
category::Health>Medical Literature & Resources
category::Health>Medical Literature & Resources>Medical Photos & Illustration
category::Health>Men’s Health
category::Health>Mental Health
category::Health>Mental Health>Anxiety & Stress
category::Health>Mental Health>Depression
category::Health>Mental Health>Learning & Developmental Disabilities
category::Health>Mental Health>Learning & Developmental Disabilities>ADD & ADHD
category::Health>Nursing
category::Health>Nursing>Assisted Living & Long Term Care
category::Health>Nutrition
category::Health>Nutrition>Special & Restricted Diets
category::Health>Nutrition>Special & Restricted Diets>Cholesterol Issues
category::Health>Nutrition>Vitamins & Supplements
category::Health>Oral & Dental Care
category::Health>Pediatrics
category::Health>Pharmacy
category::Health>Pharmacy>Drugs & Medications
category::Health>Public Health
category::Health>Public Health>Health Policy
category::Health>Public Health>Occupational Health & Safety
category::Health>Public Health>Poisons & Overdoses
category::Health>Reproductive Health
category::Health>Reproductive Health>Birth Control
category::Health>Reproductive Health>Erectile Dysfunction
category::Health>Reproductive Health>Infertility
category::Health>Reproductive Health>OBGYN
category::Health>Reproductive Health>Sex Education & Counseling
category::Health>Reproductive Health>Sexual Enhancement
category::Health>Reproductive Health>Sexually Transmitted Diseases
category::Health>Substance Abuse
category::Health>Substance Abuse>Smoking & Smoking Cessation
category::Health>Substance Abuse>Steroids & Performance-Enhancing Drugs
category::Health>Vision Care
category::Health>Vision Care>Eyeglasses & Contacts
category::Health>Women’s Health

Google & Microsoft Tout their Mobile Targeting Clout, inc. Behavioral, Location, Gender, etc.

My CDD and USPIRG asked the FTC in January 2009 to investigate mobile marketing and its threat to both privacy and consumer protection issues (Ringleader Digital, now the subject of lawsuits and stories in the WSJ and NYT, was included in the complaint, btw).  Online mobile marketers, including Microsoft and Google, illustrate how regulators in the U.S. and abroad should require safeguards to protect the public from unfair and deceptive practices–including those that involve their privacy.  In Ad Age, both Google and Microsoft loudly proclaim what their mobile marketing services can do for brands, ads and marketers.  Here are some choice excerpts:

Microsoft:  “Microsoft Advertising’s industry-leading mobile display and search advertising solutions engage more than 43 million on-the-go U.S. consumers each month—regardless of a user’s mobile phone or wireless carrier. Its innovative ad placements and ad formats include display, rich media, search, video and custom in-app ad units…

Advanced Targeting Options
  • Profile targeting: age, gender, household income, location, time of day
  • Behavioral targeting: more than 120 custom segments (e.g., “movie watchers” and “business travelers”)
  • Device: make and model
  • Wireless carriers: on-deck inventory
  • Keyword targeting: exact or broad match…Complete mobile ad solutions for automotive, CPG, entertainment, financial services, retail, technology, telecommunications, travel and other sectors…
  • More than 43 million, or 55 percent of active mobile web users in U.S.
  • More than 80 million active mobile users globally in 32 countries.”

Google: “Today’s consumers are on the move. More than ever before, audiences are searching and browsing the web on their mobile devices. How do advertisers connect with the on-the-go consumer…As customers go mobile, advertisers need smart mobile advertising strategies. With Google, they can easily target and tailor messages according to location and automatically show their customers relevant local business information or phone numbers to enable them to take immediate action. Once a campaign is up and running, marketers can measure their results via detailed reports. Additionally, integrated mobile reporting in Google Analytics allows them to track and optimize conversion, e-commerce and engagement metrics on mobile devices. They can take advantage of Google’s mobile-specific ad formats. Click-to-call text ads, animated mobile banner ads, click-to-download ads and other display ad formats are examples of how Google is innovating for the small screen.  Google closed its acquisition of AdMob, one of the world’s leading mobile advertising networks, in May. AdMob’s innovative rich media ad units—including full-screen expandable, animated banner and interactive video—create opportunities for advertisers to engage with a relevant audience on their mobile devices. Now the Google and AdMob teams are working to create new ways to deliver engaging and innovative advertising experiences that will help marketers drive their businesses forward…

CASE STUDY

CHALLENGE: Esurance, a direct-to-consumer personal car insurance company, wanted to ensure that customers could do business with it on their own terms and at their own convenience… To make the connection between mobile users and Esurance agents, Esurance used Google mobile ads with integrated click-to-call functionality. The CTC ads gave mobile users the option of clicking through to Esurance’s mobile-optimized landing page or initiating a phone call with a licensed insurance agent…Results…

  • Boosted conversion rates: Click-to-call mobile ads drove a 30 percent to 35 percent higher response.”

PS:  Attention Music Lovers.  In the same Ad Age piece, the online music service Pandora exclaims that it can provide:“Through powerful hypertargeting, reach the right person, at the right time, without waste. Target based on age, day, gender, location, mobile platform, time and type of music…Pandora offers a broad array of formats and rich media functions to create an immersive mobile experience, including:

  • Tap to video
  • Drag and drop
  • Tap to app
  • Tap to call
  • Tap to e-mail
  • Tap to expand
  • Tap to find a location
  • Tap to iTunes
  • Tap to mobile webpage
  • Standard banners”

Yahoo’s Targets Millions of Users for its Largest Advertisers, via a “Magic Formula” Powering its Ad Auction System

Preston McAfee Magic FormulaThat’s the formula Yahoo is using to please its largest advertisers, explains an article in The Register.  The report explains that Yahoo’s economist Preston McAfee has created a “magical formula” for its ad targeting service:  “a formula designed to keep Yahoo!’s largest advertisers as happy as possible. It lets each of those guaranteed-contract advertisers pick and choose — in remarkably precise fashion — how their ads are targeted, even though there are more than three trillion possible targets…Yes, Yahoo! has advertisers who only want to reach women between the ages of twenty and thirty. But it also has advertisers who only want to advertise in cities where the sun is shining. There are brokerage houses who only want to advertise when the stock market is up…What is really ‘magic’ about this is that it gave us a backdoor way to price three trillion different pieces of advertiser demand,” McAfee says…The setup also gives Yahoo! fine-grain control over each advertiser’s campaign. “It gives us a dial to favor an advertiser,” he continues. “If one of our advertisers is not getting enough impressions, we turn the dial and increase their bids, to make sure we fulfill the contract.”

But what’s needed is a policy formula–that creates privacy and other consumer protection safeguards.  Online marketing’s use of advanced computing systems and real-time ad auctions of data on individual users underscores the problem–the industry is running amok.   Consumers shouldn’t be subject to powerful invisible technologies that track, profile, target and sell them to the highest bidder.