• by Kate Kaye , June 15, 2004

Big Brother is watching online, and women are less likely to know it--or like it--than men.

A survey conducted by niche content site network BURST! Media for MediaDailyNews shows that 49.3 percent of women said companies other than Web sites and advertisers track, collect, or store information on site interactions, compared to 62.3 percent of men. And while 26.7 percent of men wouldn't mind having non-personally identifiable information tracked if it meant they would see more relevant ads, only 19.7 percent of women said the same.

Males are more cognizant than females of the fact that Web sites track non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) such as geographic location and sites previously visited. The survey, which questioned 6,059 users who visited BURST!'s 2,000 network sites from May 17 to May 24, found that 68.8 percent of men said sites are likely to track non-PII, compared to 63.7 percent of women. Women are also less sure about the legality of third-party data-sharing.

While 40 percent of all participants believed it is legal for third parties to sell personal information like email address and ZIP code, 30.8 percent of female respondents and 23.8 percent of male respondents were not sure.

As noted above, men seem to mind less than women if non-PII tracking leads to ad relevancy. Yet some age groups are far more accepting than others of tracking that results in ads reflecting their interests. As compared to survey respondents of all ages--23.2 percent of whom said they wouldn't mind if non-PII were collected to optimize ad targeting--29.5 percent of men between the ages of 25 and 34 said they'd accept it. Some women were a lot less comfortable with the idea. Just 18 percent of female participants ranging from ages 35-64 would not mind if non-PII tracking helped deliver more targeted ads.

"I think women are a little more skeptical because they're targeted more in traditional media," suggests Fran Maier, executive director and president of Web privacy watchdog organization, Truste. She believes that users are more worried about the PII tracking. "Most Web sites are using non-PII, and part of me thinks that's fairly innocuous," she says. "I think it also can deliver better value or better targeting or user experience."

More than 25 percent of male and female survey respondents above age 65 would not mind if non-PII were gathered to refine ad targeting. "I think the Internet has brought to [seniors] a level of advertising they never experienced anywhere else," comments Chuck Moran, Manager of Market Research at BURST! Moran observes that older Web users equate online advertising with broadly delivered ads that have been ubiquitous on the Web, such as X10 Camera pop-ups. These irrelevant ads, he says, "are out of context compared to ads in other forms of media they consume." Tracking Web interactions to serve more targeted ads, he concludes, "to them says they wouldn't be getting those [irrelevant] ads."

The older and younger generations are far less aware of the involvement of third parties in ad tracking and delivery. Compared to 71 percent of all survey respondents who answered that companies other than Web sites and advertisers are involved in delivering ads, just 49.2 of those age 65 and over said the same. Even less tuned in to this reality were participants under age 24--44.4 percent of whom believed that companies other than Web sites and advertisers are involved in delivering ads.

In addition, compared to over 73 percent of all those polled, just 55.5 of teens believed Web sites track user interaction. In her recent assessment of teens who use the Web, Truste's Maier found that teens are more savvy about tracking than the BURST! study indicates. She notes that many say they download music illegally less often now in response to the pop-up-producing spyware and viruses they've unwittingly downloaded in the process.

Users are comfortable with the use and sharing of their data, says Maier, as long as it respects their privacy. She adds: "Limit data collection and don't abuse them, and you'll have some happy customers."

Read Part One of MediaDailyNews's coverage of the BURST! Survey