Behavioural ad targeting outfit retains user privacy

Open Internet Exchange, developed by digital technology company Phorm, is partnering with BT, The Carphone Warehouse’s TalkTalk and Virgin Media, which combined represents 70% of UK consumer broadband subscribers.

The company, headed in the UK by Drayton, former managing director of Advertising.com and the Telegraph Media Group, claims to be unique because it maintains consumers’ privacy.

Instead of recording their IP address, every user is assigned an identification number, with user history erased as soon as they have been served a relevant advertiser.

Consequently, Open Internet Exchange hopes to appeal to advertisers, some of whom have been wary of using behavioural ad targeting services amid concerns over users’ privacy and incorrect ad placement.

Kent Ertugrul, chairman and worldwide chief executive of Phorm, said: “As a user visits a relevant site the system simultaneously deletes where they have been before and all the reasons that led to that match.”

Ertugrul added that, because Open Internet Exchange is unable to store personal data, the system was “foolproof” from accidental disclosure of user data. He said the system would also be protected from misplacement problems because advertisers would be able to specify exactly where their ads are seen.