The Pontiflex Blog

How Do Not Track Is Different (And More Difficult) Than Do Not Call

September 7, 2010 at 3:58 pm Arun Krishnan Leave a comment

Many people who participate in the online privacy debate often overlook how difficult a Do Not Track solution can be to implement.

As pointed out in this insightful post in the “Freedom to Tinker” blog,implementing a Do Not Track policy is not as simple as doing the same for a “Do Not Call” policy.  For one, unlike phone numbers, IP addresses change frequently, making it impossible to fix a computer with an identity for any definite period of time.

There also exists a problem with the reverse approach – that of requiring online advertisers to register with the FTC all domain names (so that persistent advertisers can be identified to a user device). The problem with this approach is that the FTC has placed the onus on the browser to identify the offenders. Most browsers have limited capabilities to track such sophisticated online tracking technologies, and will as the blog puts it will be  doomed to “playing catch-up in the technical arms race.”

Implementing a Do Not track policy is more difficult than it sounds. A thorough discussion is the proverbial need of the hour. For these discussions to be meaningful, they will have to undoubtedly probe the different technological aspects of the issue. In addition they will also have to look beyond them.

They would have to explore the very approach taken to online advertising. Currently, a large number of advertisers are focused on following consumers anonymously across the Internet, and serving them ads based on best guesses about their preferences.

Can’t advertisers instead focus on delivering advertising in keeping with consumer preferences? In a September 2009 Harris Interactive study, a whopping 96% of consumers said that they prefer receiving advertising offers and information via email.

So can’t advertisers place the focus of their campaigns on acquiring the email addresses of motivated consumers in a completely transparent and opt-in way – be it through search or transparent sign-up advertising? This would allow marketers to send advertisers offers based on consumer preferences — information that has been willingly given by the consumer to the advertiser.

A truly effective solution would require us all to think different about the very way we think about advertising- because the issue can’t be resolved on technical grounds alone.

Entry filed under: Online Advertising, Privacy. Tags: .