For privacy-conscious online users, the regulatory and industry response to internet advertising methods involving cookies and online behavior tracking is to promote full disclosure and transparency of intent by the advertiser. In May of this year, a new online privacy bill was proposed by two U.S. congressmen suggesting that the answer was to bury users in a flood of disclosure notices, opt-in requests and user information licenses. In other words, this would protect against any possible liability the advertisers might expose themselves to by tracking users using legal means. The draft bill's chief proponent - Rep. Rick Boucher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet - said the bill is designed to strike a middle ground between privacy protection and the need for online companies to grow their advertising.
Consumer reaction to the bill, however, has not been favorable. For the most part, the bill appears to simply codify what is accepted practice by reputable online companies. Privacy groups responding to the proposed legislation say that Boucher's bill is a free pass to the industry and perpetuates a "bankrupt notice and opt-out system that just doesn't work," said Evan Hendrix, editor of Privacy Times magazine. Hendrix also said that the bill was actually worse than having no legislation at all.
Not everyone in Congress is lining up to back the proposed bill. Charles Shumer, New York Senator, has written to the Federal Trade Commission asking that it take action against Facebook to stop them from "opting in" users to new information-sharing features. Congressman Edward J. Markey is also concerned about the user data that the Amazon's Kindle Fire collects. "Consumers may buy the new Kindle Fire to read '1984', but they may not realize that the tablet's 'Big Browser' may be watching their every keystroke when they are online," he wrote in a letter to the media giant.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to cookies, online tracking and obscure "opt out" procedures that can collectively infringe on users' privacy rights. Recently introduced as a more comprehensive targeting alternative to cookies, IP Audience Zone targeting provides nearly 100 percent reach and respects consumer privacy. Rather than tracking ephemeral pixels and cookies (which infer interest and typically provide only 35 percent market coverage), IP Zone targeting relies on a proprietary method for triangulating the geo-demographic location of the website visitor. IP Zone targeting delivers ads based on combining publically available information on the demographic profile of a visitor based on sub-zip code level clusters of users with similar interest, affluence and life stage.
IP targeting provides a privacy-friendly option for online advertisers and online television with sites such as iPlayer and Hulu, which can now restrict or grant access to personalized content based on the geo-location and audience demographics.