Website Privacy Standards

WEBSITE PRIVACY STANDARDS As advertisers develop more sophisticated online consumer tracking tools, federal agencies and consumer interest groups are pushing for stricter privacy standards. Do Not Track, the latest web tracking opt-out movement in the U.S. is gaining ground, with browsers and companies alike being pressured into providing simple opt-out technologies to keep individual's personal information private. There is precedent in Europe already: the European ePrivacy Directive is a law that requires sites to proactively gain consent from visitors to track them. See the issues at hand, as well as the potential revenue pitfalls and other impacts. ONLINE ADVERTISING AND TRACKING SOFTWARE Allows visitors to control websites' ability to track them online. "EUROPEAN EPRIVACY DIRECTIVE" "DO NOT TRACK" enforceable law, requires visitor to opt in industry best practice, allows visitor to opt out V OPT IN V OPT OUT WHO BENEFITS FROM TRACKING? Cookies are the most common method for tracking visitors. Different types of cookies serve different interests. Shopping Cart Personalization Analytics Re-Targeting Ad Network Real-Time Bidding Remembers items in a cart Personalizes content such as welcome page Counts the number of pages visited Shows ads to prior site visitors Makes inventory available for cross-site campaigns Sells audience impressions at auction Benefits Consumer Benefits Website Publisher IT'S EVERYWHERE PPPPP| In 2011, tracking technology The top 50 U.S. websites average 64 different tracking tools was embedded in 80% of 1,000 top 3,180: websites The number of tracking files these sites install on an average computer In 2005, the amount was 40% 2/3 of these TOP FIVE SITES FOR TRACKING are (BY NUMBER OF FILES INSTALLED) DICTIONARY.COM MSN.COM COMCAST.NET AOL.COM MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM installed by 131 tracking companies 50 100 150 200 250 On average, tracking data is stored for 18 months THE STAKES ARE HIGH ONLINE AD REVENUE 96% 2014 (ESTIMATED): 85% $53 BILLION 2011: $32 BILLION 2010: $23 BILLION Google Facebook Percent of $37.9B Percent of $3.71B revenue from advertising revenue from advertising CONSUMERS WANT CHOICE 93% of users claim they would use a Do Not Track feature 91% of internet users are aware they For example, Firefox owns a third of the browser market: are being tracked Consumer use User adoption of the Do Not Track feature has doubled of Do Not Track one year is steadily growing to 7% Mobile user adoption 52% believe they should is already at 18% have complete control over what's being tracked THE ONLINE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY IS WORRIED Online merchants need targeted ads to generate sales = 10 B After implementation of European laws, retailers saw a 65% decrease in ad effectiveness 65% $80 BILLION: Projected 5-year revenue loss if US implements EU-style opt-in laws worth 2X Advertising targeted according to a person's interests and online history is worth more than twice as much to advertisers than ads that are not targeted OPT OUT IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT IT SEEMS In a recent study of 64 companies: 33 left their tracking cookies in place after the user opted out 8 saved some user info on the user's computer after the user opted out THESE VIOLATIONS CAN HAPPEN UNINTENTIONALLY Major websites use many external services and technologies to manage their online advertising. These 3rd parties may violate the website's privacy policy and ignore Do Not Track. 12.5% websites violated their own privacy policies SOURCES: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395073512989404.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/10/do-not-track_n_1336380.html http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/02/13/nearly-15-time-consumers-spend-online-facebook http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/story/2012-03-26/ftc-consumer-privacy/53796066/1 http://www.dmnews.com/microsoft-online-ad-revenue-jumps-by-100m-in-q4/article/208074/ http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp ) where there are 2.5B internet users worldwide http://www.howmanyarethere.org/tag/internet-users-worldwide/ ensighten Fant-hard-predict-139091 http://paidcontent.org/2011/08/12/419-new-study-shows-use-of-do-not-track-is-on-the-rise/ neiser http://www.digiday.com/platforms/advertising-in-the-do-not-track-era/ http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/study-internet-user-adoption-dnt- http://www.netchoice.org/the-80-billion-opt-in-privacy-question/ http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20374426/do-not-track-web-browsers-debated http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/07/study-finds-not-all-voluntary-do-not-track-efforts-are-going-smoothly.ars http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204880404577225380456599176.html http://www.ensighten.com %81