Let’s agree with anonymous behavioural targeting and presume that opt in options such as those on Social Networks do the same thing anyway. It’s a matter of providing choice to consumers, like a dating site, you advise the system about your wants, needs, desires. Gasta search networks first introduced our geo regionalisation service over 3 years ago in order to localise or search results and give our advertisers a choice of which traffic regions their ads were shown on and more importantly which ads they paid for. The days of blunderbust marketing are over after all if the dating anology is the right one you would not want just anybody, would you? So the row rages on this weeks NMA has an interesting piece. By Suzanne Bearne Online publishers and agencies have defended the use of behavioural targeting following Tim Berners-Lee's warning against the collection of online data. World wide web inventor Berners-Lee said at an online privacy event yesterday that internet users' data should not be collected by internet companies and commercial operations Stuart Colman, head of digital for Europe at the Financial Times, which began working with behavioural targeting specialist Audience Science, formerly Revenue Science, almost five years ago, said Berners-Lee has a only a philosophical point of view. "His views are rose tinted. There are elements of data collecting which go too far but there has to be a level of what is acceptable. If users want to access a site for free they need to be prepared to accept such things. Behavioural targeting is anonymous and it's helpful." David Katz, head of digital trading at media agency Media Contacts, said more consumer education was needed to ensure people understand the practice. "I have issues with companies which collect and make money without the individual being aware. There needs to be a freedom of choice," he added. Kent Ertugrul, founder and CEO of Phorm, defended behavioural targeting, particularly the company's ISP-based service, which he said had been supported by privacy experts along with the Office of the UK Information Commissioner, Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), Ofcom and the Home Office. "Phorm's is the only technology that is truly, verifiably anonymous and does not store any record of user's browsing history," added Ertugrul. Yesterday Google announced it's to introduce behavioural targeting ads on YouTube and its Google Content Network. The internet giant will use cookies to track web users across its network and the video sharing site to serve them relevant advertising based on their interests. Colman said he wasn't surprised by Google's move and said it's "a natural progression" for the company. Google is among companies which have worked with the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) to issue good-practice guidelines and consumer education for behavioural targeting. Read the full article
