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Davin Greenwell
July 3, 2009 6:54 PM
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Classy implementation on All Things Digital. Well played!

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razremytuxbuddy
July 3, 2009 7:06 PM
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This does not prevent a website from harvesting your personal data without your consent. It just says they should tell you they are doing it. Big deal. Until there's an upfront opt-in or opt-out for the person whose data is being harvested, the misappropriation of that person's private and proprietary information will continue.

The one bit of good news in this is that the online businesses obviously realize the crackdown is coming, and are scurrying to cover themselves. This is not the time for FTC or the members of Congress behind this effort, to back off.

BTW, when I jumped to the Forbes article, I had to deny at least 4 cookies before the article even appeared on the screen.

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1 replies
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alexawesome
July 6, 2009 4:36 PM
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@razremytuxbuddy: Argh. Argh! A big issue with privacy and data harvesting is differentiating between personally identifiable data and general user data (anonymous). When tracking habits, trends, clicks, etc., people don't usually have a problem. You'll see that sort of data aggregated publicly, too, with \"most popular posts,\" and site designers creating better designs to fit the needs of their users based on that data.

It absolutely gets shady and problematic when you have sites like Facebook letting advertisers pay for space based on keywords in your profile - but is that much different than google ad words? The key part is being able to opt-out of these kinds of ads which are based on our personal information.

To rehash more simply, it should be okay to track general user data without an option to opt-out (opt-out by not visiting/using the site) - web masters should be able to track anonymous data regarding their site.

It should NOT be okay to target users based on personally identifiable information without an obvious and prominent way to opt-out.

Two kinds of data harvesting - one is far more legitimate than the other, IMO.

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Skin Art Squared
July 3, 2009 8:31 PM
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I really don't see the big deal with accepting cookies. It's not like blocking them is going to prevent you from seeing ads altogether. You're still gonna get ads, they just won't be as targeted. Advertising makes the world go round, and that's not going to go away until we live in something other than a consumer driven economy.

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1 replies
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sonneillon
July 5, 2009 10:50 AM
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@BZMedia: I agree that advertising is necessary for some types of free content, but some advertisements are so god damned annoying and intrusive that I would throw bricks at the window of the company that created them.

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bohemian
July 3, 2009 9:24 PM
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Tracking cookies should be banned outright. There is no technical need for them, it is purely a greedy marketing tool that has overstepped its bounds.

I want something done about brick and mortar data tracking also. Too many places are giving your purchase information along with some piece of information to show it was you. This is then fed all over the place to third party firms and they obviously continue to pass this on.
You have no way of finding all the data that is collected on you or any control over who gets that data once it leaves that retailer. Even when retailers claim they will never share it, those third party companies that compile that data are a risk.

The bottom line is that all of this personal information being passed around serves no purpose at all but marketing. Banning these practices outright will force companies to go back to traditional marketing efforts. Honestly, targeted marketing isn't that great and in the last ten years they have been doing data collection they have not at all used it in any more successful way than traditional marketing efforts. This is privacy violation with no positive outcome for the consumer or the company. The only one winning is the third party data collection firms.

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2 replies
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Skin Art Squared
July 4, 2009 12:16 PM
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@bohemian: \"Honestly, targeted marketing isn't that great\"

Are you kidding? You really think targeted marketing and demographics mean nothing? So, the Viagra and Summer's Eve douche people could be advertising on Nickelodeon and Mattel could advertise the latest Barbie doll on the local Smooth Jazz radio station, and all achieve the same results as targeting the proper demographic instead? If you believe that you don't know anything about advertising.

And I'm sorry, but dropping a tracking cookie on your computer is hardly a privacy violation. The phonebook listing your number is a privacy violation. The guy knocking on your door selling Jesus is a privacy violation. Anyone requiring your Social Security number as a form of ID, including the DMV, is a privacy violation. The idea of a government issued Real ID is a massive privacy violation. Airport shakedowns are a privacy violation.
If targeted ads are your biggest privacy leak concern, try looking around you at the real problems.

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razremytuxbuddy
July 4, 2009 2:23 PM
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@BZMedia: It's not what targeted marketing is giving, i.e. targeted ads. It's what they are taking, i.e. proprietary information that belongs to you, that they will use against you, and sell to others who will use it against you. Cookies are used by takers, not givers.

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Shoelace
July 3, 2009 9:59 PM
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BS it's a good first step - consumers should be able to opt in before any information can be collected about them. Having to repeatedly opt out is a time-consuming nuisance and I'm sure these marketers won't want to make it any easier.

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H3ion
July 3, 2009 11:50 PM
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There's a download called BetterPrivacy that deletes flash cookies when you exit Firefox. Firefox also allows you to delete private data (cookies, history, etc.) any time or on exit.

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Mary Marsala with Fries
July 6, 2009 2:01 PM
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Somehow the \"we completely failed to handle this at all properly on our own for many years, BUT now that you've threatened us, you can totally trust us!\" angle just doesn't work for me....

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