Comments on: Shop.org -- Targeting, the War Over Data

By: Josh Gordon

Josh Gordon — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:46:23 +0000

By all means be Pollyannish! I agree 100% that the value to the customer is off the charts. The real issue is the industry’s ability to fight and win the PR battle, and tamp down the fury of cautious consumer advocates. BT is interested in saving people time and creating a personal experience with the traditionally impersonal Internet.

Our new President has yet to announce the new head of the FTC. When that happens, it will be interesting to watch the Commission’s new direction.

By: Bob Scheier

Bob Scheier — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:27:21 +0000

Not to be Pollyannish, but the “plus” side of behavioral targeting is that — if done right — the customer can more quickly find the products and/or information they need. Just like in the store, where the conditioner is next to the shampoo, the customer finds a quicker path to what they’re looking for. Combine this with the implicit agreement to be tracked that comes with entering the Website/store, it seems like that’s a win-win for the buyer and seller.

By: How To Classify Types of Behavioral Targeting « The Lunch Pail

How To Classify Types of Behavioral Targeting « The Lunch Pail — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:07:10 +0000

[...] Riley provided some interesting commentary on the state of the so-called “behavioral targeting” industry. Lots of statistics get thrown around about how 50% of marketers prefer to use BT whenever possible, and consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to and accepting of these technologies. All that information is great and encouraging. But, without true, widely-accepted definitions of BT types, the growth and adoption of these technologies is stunted… and the decision makers in Congress who govern the impact of privacy laws on the industry will remain uninformed when passing laws. [...]

By: Josh Gordon

Josh Gordon — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:13:18 +0000

Wow, thanks for the insightful comment, Ted. Great point on cookies, too.

It will be interesting to see what happens as more savvy types begin to land in political offices. It’s extremely important that both sides of Internet issues are represented. Right now it appears as though the debate is heavily one-sided in favor of decision-makers that don’t understand the complexities of what they’re dealing with, or the enormous upside of the technology.

Hopefully folks like Martino and Treanor-Oesterle will erode some of the misinformation floating around the beltway about technology.

By: Ted S

Ted S — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:27:01 +0000

Great report, thanks for sharing.

It sounds like the future of data really is stuck between a couple of rocks with the wrong people left to decide its fate. I know it’s a tangent subject here but one has to wonder how long it will take before we see enough “internet era” types in political office to represent something so much different from anything before. As things stand I worry more about laws being passed that make it nearly impossible for smaller companies and startups to comply with data rules than the industry being limited. Limits on data are one thing when everyone limited has an entire compliance team but online it’s just not the same and the people deciding what goes into place just aren’t connected to the dot-com world. Even with staffers aiding them how can someone who never logs on hope to expand logging on?

That all said I agree with your statement. A lot of this gets back to naming conventions and public perception. A few years ago my family thought cookies were bad because some news channel reporting on mis-uses of them. Unfortunately we as an industry tend to name things literally without long term thinking about how customers will read into them and the result here is that I suspect many people think targeting is far more invasive than it is.

That isn’t to say that it shouldn’t be looked at however. There always needs to be some way of insuring consumers are protected but the privacy organizations and legislative bodies need to understand that along with the dangers of tracking too much comes the benefit of marketing effectively. Seeing the right ad and offer is not detrimental to the customer… in fact I would argue that if anything, it’s preferred.