About Online Advertising
19/03/2008
Online advertising may very well shape the future of the internet. Online advertising spending for 2007 was $27 billion. By 2011 spending on ads should double to more than $54 billion. Advertisers spend billions online because online ads can be targeted to match your interests far more accurately than with TV or a billboard. Much of the internet is funded by advertising, and this will likely expand as well.
The market and the internet are thus transforming. We are already seeing traditional 'internet service' companies transform themselves into internet advertising companies. AOL is moving away from service provision to advertising and recently purchased Bebo, a social networking site, to advance its cause. Social networking sites in their own ways are massive repositories of personal profiles that can be used to generate advertising streams.
New advertising models are also emerging in ways previously thought impossible. For a while now it has been possible to track users across websites using cookies. But it is now also possible to generate profiles of users by monitoring their IP-traffic at internet service providers.
All of these changes in the marketplace and in the technologies create significant risks for privacy. If not properly managed and scrutinised, and if the market forces aren't appropriately harnessed, advertising can pose the greatest threat to privacy since government-mandated surveillance regulations.
For an overview and key definitions of advertising practices, we highly recommend the Center for Digital Democracy and their files on 'Understanding Digital Marketing.
To understand EU legal protections for privacy, see the video on Findlaw.
All of these links take you to other websites, and although we will ask these sites to keep static links, over time they may change. We will update this resource as more companies expand their educational campaigns.
Opting Out
The whole opt-in and opt-out debate is only the beggining of the story. Most of the advertising schemes out there require that you opt-out if you do not wish to be behaviourally profiled and tracked. We fundamentally oppose these techniques and demand opt-in regimes. In the meantime, however, we are listing the opt-out opportunities that you have. One major problem here is that if you delete your cookies, you will have to opt-out again from all of these services.
Explaining Current Practices
A number of sites exist to explain how the industry currently operates.
- Network Advertising Initiative explanation of cookies, beacons, and spam.
- Google's Advertising Privacy Policies, including a video about cookies. Also includes links to explaning Adsense, AdWords, and Analytics products, though these explanations are geared more towards potential advertisers and website-managers.
- Quigo's content-targeted ad serving FAQ though again the content is designed more for advertisers. Alternatively, see their privacy policy.
- TACODA Audience Networks explaining that they anonymously categorize web surfing interests, and you can read their Frequently Asked Questions about Privacy, and their privacy policy.
- OIX Webwise explanation, explaning the IP-level profiling system.
- Microsoft's explanation of their use of your personal information for advertising
Technological Designs
Related:
PHR2006 - Privacy Topics - Behavioural Targeting
Privacy International response to European Commission approval of the Google-Doubleclick merger
PI Comments on Google-Doubleclick Merger to the European Commission
PI Meets with Internet Companies
|
