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Retargeting Ads Stalk You For Weeks After You Shop

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the oh-no-that's-not-creapy dept.

eldavojohn writes "The New York Times is reporting on a new kind of web ad that takes products you were looking at purchasing on one site and continually advertising them in front of you at subsequent sites. After looking at shoes at Zappos, a mother in Montreal noticed the shoes followed her: 'For days or weeks, every site I went to seemed to be showing me ads for those shoes. It is a pretty clever marketing tool. But it's a little creepy, especially if you don't know what's going on.' The spreading ploy is called 'retargeting ads' and really are just a good demonstration of how an old technology (all they use are leftover browser cookies) are truly invasive and privacy violating. Opponents are clamoring for government regulation to protect the consumer and one writer mentioned a consumer 'do not track' list — adding that retailers really show little fear of turning off customers with their invasion."

3 of 344 comments (clear)

  1. It seems a bit wrong-headed by mutube · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So... You look at something, decide you *don't* want to buy it... and then they continue to advertise it to you in case what? You change your mind?

    ????

    Profit

    --
    Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
  2. creepy. but by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I agree it's creepy, but Opponents are clamoring for government regulation to protect the consumer bothers me a bit. Really, I'm not at all sure that the government should be regulating in the internet at this picky level of detail.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:creepy. but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not at all sure that the government should be regulating in the internet at this picky level of detail.

      Consumers have no technical way to protect themselves. Block cookies and there are a thousand other ways to track them (web bugs, LSO cookies, etc. etc.). Block those and the vendors will find another solution.

      The only solution is legal: Give consumers legal authority to stop vendors from tracking them, and penalties if that's violated.

      We've all been trained to memorize the meme that government regulation is bad. Fine if you want to believe it, and sometimes the meme is true, but sometimes, bad or not, the regulation is worse than the alternative.