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Online Tracking Firms To Launch Opt-Out Program

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-can-trust-us dept.

storagedude writes "Threatened by the prospect of tougher US online privacy legislation, a handful of data collection companies have banded together to create a voluntary system for consumers to see what information companies have and to opt out of cookies or edit the data collected. The Better Advertising Project's Open Data Partnership is a long way from a viable solution — scores of tracking and big-name online companies have yet to sign on to the effort — but it is nonetheless the first attempt to put all this online tracking data in one place. Coupled with Microsoft's announcement this week that it plans to add a do-not-track mechanism to IE9, it appears that the FTC's call for a do-not-track system may be gaining some traction. The Open Data Partnership will be particularly interesting, as consumers will be getting a good look at the data collected about them. Better Advertising already lets consumers opt out of some behavioral ad targeting, and about 5% of those who click through to learn more actually opt out (PDF, slide 5). It will be interesting to see if the opt-out rate changes after consumers see what data is actually collected." To be clear, they aren't saying they'll stop collecting the data. They'll just make it available to users and let people opt out of getting ads based on the information, or simply remove anything they don't want shared.

15 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Opt out rates are low eh? by Fluffeh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Could that be becuase more people (as in, not us nerds here) don't even know that they are being tracked like crazy or what it can mean to them in the long term when all those little tiny bits of data start getting put together and someone ends up with a perfect picture of that person?

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    1. Re:Opt out rates are low eh? by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And those of us who do know about tracking have long since learned that any attempts to opt out actually result in more tracking/advertising/spam/whatever else you opt out.

      Unless the perpetrators are actually trackable and reliably fined, there is no chance an opt-out system can work. The only case so far that _mostly_ (not completely) works is the Do-Not-Call phone list in the US. Here in Europe we have strict laws about protecting personal data, but unless a company loudly announces it has data of this kind these laws are unenforceable.

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    2. Re:Opt out rates are low eh? by martin-boundary · · Score: 3, Interesting

      but unless a company loudly announces it has data of this kind these laws are unenforceable.

      However, employees of such companies might want to consider leaking this information to the public, so that the company can be taken to court for failing to follow the laws.

    3. Re:Opt out rates are low eh? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Add the people who don't even think that it will be heeded and is hence a waste of time to go through the hassle to opt-out, and the people who think it's a trap to collect even more data, and I'm kinda surprised that 5% actually remain to opt-out.

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Opt out rates are low eh? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's ridiculous to draw such conclusion, and no marketing researcher will simply assume this from two things you like.

      Though you can have a lot of fun with the reaction from store clerks if you go and buy condoms and doggy treats. Try it! It really is hilarious.

      What you should NOT try is the combination of vaseline, lollypops and condoms. People tend to be hysteric.

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    5. Re:Opt out rates are low eh? by morethanapapercert · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Put me down as one of the people who fall into both categories. I know that my opt-out won't be heeded. (I may be wrong, but I'm certain)

      Actual laws against spam don't seem to have diminished the number of spam messages I get. I've actually taken the time to try and opt out of some the less annoying, slightly more legitimate emails and I've noticed something interesting that seems to be common to all of the opt-out pages I have seen.

      A) If/when you sign up for something, you are implicitly agreeing to having your contact details and other information shared/sold to "business partners, service providers and other affiliates" but when you opt-out later, it applies only to the company directly. You'll still get spammed by those other firms.

      B) They NEVER say that they will delete your data, just that they won't use it themselves. On it's own, your data is almost worthless, but in the aggregate with thousands of other people with similar profiles it can be worth quite a sum. So opting out still leaves the problem of companies unknown to me, collecting data about me against my will and then selling that data to god-knows-who anywhere in the world. (It's been alleged that intelligence agencies routinely obtain these data stores to cross reference against their existing files.) By the time you get around to opting out, your data could easily have been sold and re-sold dozens of times.

      C)The fact that I am willing to actually read the Terms and chose to opt-out is itself another detail to add and cross reference with any other data that they have; or think they have, linked to me. A list composed purely of people who opt-out of (for example) the email alerts that they automatically got subscribed to when they joined a tech forum is probably pretty worthless for a fake Viagra spammer, but potentially worthwhile for a vendor of security and privacy protecting software. (oh the irony!)

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  2. Legislation will be needed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While the Open Data Partnership is a start, there are scores of online tracking and major internet companies that have yet to sign on to the effort.

    That's where legislation comes in - you can't get 100% compliance without it. All you need is just one company to refuse to join and this opt-out program will fall apart.

    Anyway, opt-out?!? Everything is becoming fucking opt-out. And if you don't know about something, how the fuck do you "opt-out:?

    Fucking marketing people and their techie sell-out scumbags.

    1. Re:Legislation will be needed. by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In Canada we call it the privacy act. Works pretty well, unless you're dealing with a company outside of Canada. In which case as a Canadian you simply ignore everything they scream at you.

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  3. Why opt out? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why should users have to opt out? It would make more sense to make tracking opt in. If tracking is useful for users surely they'd want to opt in.

    1. Re:Why opt out? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Over the years I've had enough contact with the online marketing business to last me a lifetime. *puke*

      It's partially rooted in their delusion that they actually think they're doing the average user a service by trying to sell him all kinds of crap (read: "the customer has needs and online advertisement facilitates the contact to vendors to satisfy this need"[/goodspeak]).

      That's why they want the opt-in as default, to reach as many people as possible and guarantee them a larger revenue through possible sales.

    2. Re:Why opt out? by martin-boundary · · Score: 5, Insightful

      their delusion that they actually think they're doing the average user a service by trying to sell him all kinds of crap

      It's hard to convince someone that what they're doing is wrong, when their job depends on it.

  4. No silly - Opt in! by defaria · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No ad system will ever be acceptable to me unless it's "Opt In"!

    Look, I'm internet savvy and resourceful. I can think for myself. If and when I want some product I will seek it out. None of your "throw your shit in my face" will make me want to buy your product. In fact it alienates me - IOW it has the opposite effect. Get this through your thick skull - people like me who actively use things like AdBlock are not your customers and never will be. We will seek out and buy things using the wonderful internet as a research tool if and when we - not you - determine we need your product. You'd be best to spend your ad dollars on making a stellar product!

    1. Re:No silly - Opt in! by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Hope you don't mind if I add to this. Maybe we can write a "how to sell to people who're not idiots and hence have the money to buy your stuff 'cause they didn't waste it on crap" guide.

      1. See defaria's posting. Yelling at me is most likely not impressing me. It annoys me. To the point where I do not WANT to hear from you EVER AGAIN. Even if I should ever need a product that you could provide, your name has been tarnished by your own actions, it's now something I connect with "annoying" rather than "pleasant" or "helpful". And nobody wants to buy something that reeks of "annoying".

      2. I will look for something that I need. So make sure you can be found. Ponder what people might look for when they're looking for your product and make sure that you can be found by that term in the important search engines. And that means NOT ONLY Google, and maybe Bing.

      3. Make sure that you are ONLY found by terms that match your product. If I find you no matter whether I look for a new monitor, a new stereo, a new sofa or a new refrigerator, but you're making only dildos, you're annoying me again. The only thing you will accomplish is that I will automatically change my search pattern from "$thing_that_I_want" to "$thing_that_I_want -$your_company".

      4. Make sure I find the specs of your product EASILY. Without wading through pages of flash animated marketing drivel. When I want to get something, I usually have an idea what I want in the product. And if I don't, telling me with a lot of adjectives just how great your product is ain't going to impress me. Tell me WHY it is good. I believe you that you think it's good, don't worry about that. Give me the specs.

      5. And don't pad the specs with crap to make them look like I get more than I actually get. We all know you love those tables with "this feature" in one column and "YES!" in the one next to it, but when you tout a remote control as a YES! feature for a TV set, all it tells me is that you don't have any real defining features because you have to present something as a feature that every crappy TV set out there has today. It is impressive to have a long feature list, yes. It is NOT impressive if that list consists to more than 50% of non-features like remote control, stereo sound speakers or an antenna jack.

      6. Let's assume you have me hooked and I want to buy it: LET ME! I cannot count the times that I actually decided to buy something only to find out that I can't without first jumping through more hoops than the item is worth. If you require me to tell you everything about me including my shoe size and my mom's maiden name, you're wasting my time. I don't care about your statistics. You get what you need to deliver the item to me and what you need to get money from me. Nothing more. If you want more, I take my business elsewhere.

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  5. AC by machine321 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I find it amusing that most of the comments so far are as AC...

  6. Re:Great niche for free software by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    As in Ghostery? Or do you mean a data-spoofer, not just a blocker?

    (Two trackers on this page: Google Analytics, Doubleclick. Status: Blocked. (But then I'm logged in, so...))

    ( [Laughs] Google sent me to the French Mozilla add-on page. "So, you do not like our tracking, eh?")

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