Zogby Poll: Web Users Troubled By Behavioral Targeting
- by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 8, 2010
Eighty percent of the 2,111 adults surveyed this month by Zogby said they were concerned about companies "recording their online habits and using the data to generate profit through advertising," according to a summary of the results. More than half of that group reported they were "very concerned" by the practice, while the rest simply said they were "concerned."
What's more, 88% of respondents said they believed that tracking Internet users without their permission is an unfair business practice. Almost as many -- 79% -- said they supported a "do not track" list, similar to the do-not-call registry.
At the same time, less than half of the respondents -- 49% -- said they want the government do more to protect privacy online.
Last year, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law also reported that consumers object to online behavioral targeting. The Annenberg/Berkeley research, based on a poll of 1,000 Web users, found that 66% of respondents rejected the idea of tailored ads. That study also found that a majority of Web users -- 57% -- said they didn't want tailored news stories, while 49% rejected customized discounts.
Cleland, who consults for telecoms and cable companies, is known for publishing reports critical of Google.
When is the average person not going to be concerned about privacy. It seems that a survey may not be the best way to approach this question.
It is preposterous that an entire industry of marketers and advertisers are making money off information purloined from consumers without their consent. Consumer data belongs to consumers, if they wish to trade it for ads or offers it is wholly up to them. Read Tim Berners-Lee on this subject.
It will be more useful when the question is reframed. It isn't that "marketers and advertisers are making money off information purloined from consumers". Instead it should more accurately be stated that information is being used to create additional revenue for publishers who typically provide free content (advertisers and marketers actually pay more when this information is in play).
It is certainly valid however to ask if this is a fair bargain or even if consumers are provided with enough information for it to constitute a bargain at all. One fact though is seemingly not in question - the number of data collectors and their specific practices is not understood and industry has done an exceptionally poor job in making the terms of the free content bargain obvious to consumers.
Behavioral Targeting is digital stalking – of course people are upset with it! Who won’t be?