There is broad agreement that consumers must have a clear and easy mechanism for opting out of online tracking. And there is also broad agreement that industry self-regulation and voluntary efforts are making substantial progress in developing solutions to provide consumers with meaningful choices about collection of their data. So much so that Obama administration officials just months ago cited these efforts as an example of voluntary but enforceable best practices.
Why is there such agreement on this topic? Well, that’s because customers, businesses and policymakers alike also broadly recognize the need to preserve the economic model that has been propelling the availability of content online: effective advertising. Indeed, targeted advertising is more effective and generates substantially more value that, in turn, provides for much of the valuable content provided on the Web.
In light of the broad consensus emerging around behavioral advertising and consumer choice, it was surprising that Microsoft announced yesterday that Internet Explorer 10 in Windows 8 will have “Do Not Track” (DNT) feature on by default—a move that defies the objective to enable users to make informed decisions.
But of even greater concern, Microsoft’s decision is likely to have the opposite effect. That is, in light of the fact that there is not yet consensus among the advertising industry (including among Microsoft’s own ad networks) on how to implement settings such as this, the end result will be confusion and disappointment from consumers when this ultimately doesn’t do what it says it will do. The Microsoft blog announcing the decision was clear in admitting that a uniform, industry-wide response is still under development:
“Sending a DNT signal from a browser is only part of the process. Obviously, for DNT to be effective, it is also important that websites have a common understanding of what the consumer expects when their browser sends the DNT signal. As well as engineering the world’s most used browser, Microsoft also owns and manages a growing advertising business – including a network that provides advertising to our own and other Web properties, so we have a unique perspective into this discussion.
At the moment there is not yet an agreed definition of how to respond to a DNT signal, and we know that a uniform, industry-wide response will be the best way to provide a consistent consumer experience across the Web.”
Fortunately, in response to Microsoft’s recent decision, Mozilla announced that the user’s choice is absolutely critical on this issue, and they confirmed that it will not set the “Do Not Track” feature in its Firefox browser to turn on by default. As articulated by Mozilla:
“DNT is intended to express an individual’s choice, or preference, to not be tracked. It’s important that the signal represents a choice made by the person behind the keyboard and not the software maker, because ultimately it’s not the browser being tracked, it’s the user.”
Amen, this also reflects the consensus that has emerged within the W3C Tracking Protection that “[k]ey to that notion of expression is that it must reflect the user’s preference, not the preference of some institutional or network-imposed mechanism outside the user’s control.”
So, again, there’s broad consensus on user choice and preference. Hopefully Microsoft will come to recognize this and continue to support the consensus effort.
By David LeDuc
http://www.siia.net/
Why is there such agreement on this topic? Well, that’s because customers, businesses and policymakers alike also broadly recognize the need to preserve the economic model that has been propelling the availability of content online: effective advertising. Indeed, targeted advertising is more effective and generates substantially more value that, in turn, provides for much of the valuable content provided on the Web.
In light of the broad consensus emerging around behavioral advertising and consumer choice, it was surprising that Microsoft announced yesterday that Internet Explorer 10 in Windows 8 will have “Do Not Track” (DNT) feature on by default—a move that defies the objective to enable users to make informed decisions.
But of even greater concern, Microsoft’s decision is likely to have the opposite effect. That is, in light of the fact that there is not yet consensus among the advertising industry (including among Microsoft’s own ad networks) on how to implement settings such as this, the end result will be confusion and disappointment from consumers when this ultimately doesn’t do what it says it will do. The Microsoft blog announcing the decision was clear in admitting that a uniform, industry-wide response is still under development:
“Sending a DNT signal from a browser is only part of the process. Obviously, for DNT to be effective, it is also important that websites have a common understanding of what the consumer expects when their browser sends the DNT signal. As well as engineering the world’s most used browser, Microsoft also owns and manages a growing advertising business – including a network that provides advertising to our own and other Web properties, so we have a unique perspective into this discussion.
At the moment there is not yet an agreed definition of how to respond to a DNT signal, and we know that a uniform, industry-wide response will be the best way to provide a consistent consumer experience across the Web.”
Fortunately, in response to Microsoft’s recent decision, Mozilla announced that the user’s choice is absolutely critical on this issue, and they confirmed that it will not set the “Do Not Track” feature in its Firefox browser to turn on by default. As articulated by Mozilla:
“DNT is intended to express an individual’s choice, or preference, to not be tracked. It’s important that the signal represents a choice made by the person behind the keyboard and not the software maker, because ultimately it’s not the browser being tracked, it’s the user.”
Amen, this also reflects the consensus that has emerged within the W3C Tracking Protection that “[k]ey to that notion of expression is that it must reflect the user’s preference, not the preference of some institutional or network-imposed mechanism outside the user’s control.”
So, again, there’s broad consensus on user choice and preference. Hopefully Microsoft will come to recognize this and continue to support the consensus effort.
By David LeDuc
http://www.siia.net/
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