Most of us know that our behavior is being watched on the Web. As we browse and shop on the Internet, a “cookie” travels with us, recording our preferences. This technology is nothing new. Cookies identify and track information about a user. But cookies are getting more sophisticated, notes an article in today’s NewYorkTimes.com, and are now able to hold a lot more personal information about our Web behavior. As the article aptly states, “On the old Internet, nobody knew you were a dog. On the new targeted Internet, they now know what kind of dog you are, your favorite leash color, the last time you had fleas and the date you were neutered.”
Marketers love the profiling technology because it allows them to track a consumer’s interests and target advertising, giving them a way to pitch products to people most likely to buy. Retailers like The Gap and Victoria’s Secret are use Web tracking info in just this way.
The comfort level of many consumer and privacy rights advocates, however, is being pushed too far. In response, they are calling for Congress to force companies to make these Web shadowing practices more transparent to the consumer and give people a way to decline being tracked. What are your thoughts? Do you welcome more personalized advertising or are marketers getting too personal?
I want to have some control over what information is shared. This may be the next “horizon” for us. Catalog Choice has become a huge success in the two years that I’ve been using it. Maybe consumers can have the same impact on web tracking.
I don’t want marketers to ‘market’ to me based on what they interpret my preferences to be, on the web or anywhere else. Any person’s web (or print) reading and purchasing preferences should not be mined for advertising unless the web (or print) user gives explicit permission. This notion that I have to say ‘no’ or else it is okay is nonsense; the default position should be that the web (or print) user’s privacy is respected and therefore has to explicitly grant permission for use of such data.