AOL to publicise online tracking opt-out for users

by Staff, Brand Republic 01-Nov-07, 11:20

NEW YORK - AOL is to run a campaign telling internet users how they can opt out of having their online journeys tracked by its behaviourally targeted advertising software, amid growing privacy issue concerns in the US.

AOL's information campaign will use banner ads to explain its policy and tell consumers what to do if they want to block the behaviourally targeted ads it sells.

AOL announced the move as consumer privacy groups banded together to call for the creation of a "do not track" list for people who do not want online ad networks to track and store data on their online activities.

They asked the Federal Trade Commission, which is looking into behavioural advertising practices at a public meeting today and tomorrow, to establish the list. The FTC introduced the "Do Not Call" register, the US equivalent of the UK's Telephone Preference Service list to opt out of telemarketing calls, in 2003.

Mark Cooper, research director of alliance member the Consumer Federation of America, said: "Online opt-outs should be as well-known and as easy as the 'Do Not Call' list."

Behavioural targeting has been used in the UK for around three years and has helped online publishers to improve their offer to advertisers.

The technology has grown more sophisticated and now allows ads to be served to a consumer, based on factors such as sites they have visited before, their geographic location, their past web searches and their propensity to purchase.

The US consumer privacy alliance argues such activity could be detrimental to people's privacy online. The alliance is composed of nine groups including the Centre for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Consumer Federation of America.

What the alliance is proposing is that: advertisers should be prevented from collecting and using personally identifiable information about health and financial activities; that advertisers should register with the FTC the domain names of the servers they use to place cookies, or tracking software, on users' computers; and that behavioural targeting companies adherence to privacy rules should be independently audited.

Comments

Cameron Hulett - 01/11/2007

It is clear to me that consumers have the choice here, which makes behavioural targeting all the more effective. If you know that people have selected to be targeted based on their behaviour, and I believe most will over time because it benefits them, then behavioural targeting becomes even more effective..... if you have the tools that can leverage that knowledge properly. A holistic approach is therefore vital.

Benoit Droulez - 02/11/2007

Privacy concerns has always been stonger in the US, we have been running Behavioural Targeting in the UK for over two years now without a single customer privacy complaint, this being said we use only first party cookies when tracking users which could not be the case of networks such as AOL that use third party cookies that always result in increased user privacy concerns.