Look here, a really nice simple explanation on how Google search works and a very little but strong message at the end on the potential privacy impacts.
Category: Advertising
opt-in > opt-out discussions continue….
I just love this quote from Kimon Zorbas, the vice president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe “most Europeans were not troubled by behavioural advertising” and “Customer profiling is a basic to any business, not just online business” then in response to the opt-in clause in the EU cookie directive “if that were to happen, I am afraid it would kill a significant part of the industry.” Read more at The New York Times.
Is it not more to do with re-thinking how they do this? Come-on these advertisers have been creative in coming up with the cookie thing, and not even given the consumer a choice, they eat cookies whether they like it or not. Zorbas also said that those that didn’t want cookies “could simply block them through the industry’s Web site”.
Sure, and then we come to those zombie cookies, they are pretty creative. They never go away. I write a post on this not long ago.
I have nothing against cookies, after all they are very convenient. What I am against is that I get them without being asked, that I need to opt-out. Opting out is not always so straightforward. There are some websites where I definately do not want cookies from. There should be a button on the main page, right in from of you that states in big letters OPT-IN. And when you have done that it changes to OPT-OUT. Then you feel that you have some control. You, the customer can choose who is tracking everything that you do online.
smile we want to sell you something …
The science fiction of the future is getting closer. You walk by a store and the large digital screen advertising products presents goods to you that are tailored to your age using facial recognition technology. This is here today, both Adidas and Kraft have plans for this type of digital ads. Read more at Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/09/01/kraft-to-use-facial-recognition-technology-to-give-you-macaroni-recipes/).
Now what happens if this technology is connected to Facebook, so that they don’t need to guess how old you are based on how you look, but can see for a fact. Also that you have children, dogs, cats, and whatever more there is is glean, based upon how Facebook will organise unstructured data into a structured format so it is easy to link and process.
Now facial recognition technologies are also to deny access to casinos in Las Vegas. Now imagine if every club and bar could effectively do away with the traditional bouncer and instead implement this technology.
Previously I have talked a lot about storecards, RFID and how this type of invasion on privacy could make you vulnerable to tailored ads… although maybe you like this, it really depends on your viewpoint. However now, it really may not matter if you have a storecard, RFID, whatever, your face will reveal all, your FB account will feed the digital ads, and I guess you won’t have any say in this at all!