In a meeting last week with federal regulators, the advertising and technology industry announced it would support a “Do Not Track” policy that would allow consumers to manage their online privacy settings. This support comes after intense pressure from both the Obama Administration and Congress, on adopting a universal privacy bill of rights. According to The New York Times, the agreement would limit certain types of data collection, but consumers would still not be “invisible” on the Web. Mr. Stuart P. Ingis, head of the Digital Advertising Alliance commented on this agreement by stating, “‘Do Not Track’ is a misnomer. It’s not an accurate depiction of what’s going on[.]”
The intense debate between consumer privacy online and the ability to use search data for advertising purposes has raged for years. However, Mr. Ingis is correct in his assessment of how the ‘Do Not Track’ program is misguided and misleading to American consumers. The reality is that web browsing companies are in the business of making money, and how do they do this? Usually, it is one of two ways – subscription (i.e. Netflix) or advertising (i.e. Yahoo). Put simply, the ‘Do Not Track’ program will not eliminate advertising to the online consumer. The only thing that will change for the ‘Do Not Track’ consumer is the kinds of products and services solicited to them. Some products may have a purpose to the online consumer, but most will have absolutely no relevance.
Imagine for a moment you are a parent of 2 children in your 40’s, and need to help your daughter search online for a homework project on ‘building an urban chicken coop.’ Your privacy settings are set for ‘Do Not Track,’ but before the search results arrive, a 20 second infomercial on ‘retirement living communities’ appears – how would you react? The first time might be childishly amusing, but after each and every query, it would start to become very annoying. The ‘Do Not Track’ agreement only states it will not track your online behavior – nothing is mentioned about eliminating advertising in perpetuity.