• by Ross Fadner , September 9, 2004

Internet users say they don't mind advertisers knowing enough about them to send ads for products they're interested in purchasing--as long as marketers don't know enough to personally identify them, according to a recently released survey.

Sixty-six percent of the 1,074 consumers surveyed by the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research firm, said that they would find banner ads less annoying if they were more relevant. But more than half--55 percent--also said that while they wanted relevant ads, they didn't want Web sites to collect personally identifiable information such as their addresses or phone numbers.

Ponemon Institute founder Larry Ponemon said that, overall, respondents were generally unwilling to share anything beyond their names and general locations with Web publishers. "Beyond that, people would question: 'Why do you need that information?'"

In general, Ponemon said, consumer willingness to give personal information directly correlates to the degree to which they feel they can trust a given brand. At the same time, consumers are "more leery" about Internet privacy in the wake of the publicity generated by spam, spyware, and identity theft over the last few years, said Ponemon.

Some Web sites ask consumers for basic information such as gender and ZIP code before allowing them to see content, while others require viewers to fill out detailed questionnaires. But, independent of the registration requirements, some publishers hire companies to also track users' viewing patterns and then deliver ads based on specific behaviors. For example, a user who clicks on the car section might be tagged as a potential car buyer, and receive ads accordingly.

These days, consumers are savvier about giving out information, as a result of concerns about spyware and spam, says Ponemon, whose research firm specializes in privacy. In fact, one of the unanswered questions of the survey is just how much tracking consumers will accept.

Because similar tracking techniques are also deployed by some notorious spyware programs, consumer privacy online has become a top priority for federal and private consumer protection groups.

In addition, the DoubleClick controversy of 2000, in which the company was accused of collecting personally identifiable information and combining it with Web-surfing behavior, still resonates with privacy advocates. "If we don't draw a line [online advertising practices] will become more and more invasive," said Electronic Privacy Information Center Associate Director Chris Hoofnagle." "It's time for the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to revisit online advertising and forms of online tracking that have flown below the radar," Hoofnagle added. DoubleClick ultimately agreed to obtain permission from consumers before combining any personally identifiable data with Web-surfing history.

Currently, behavioral targeting firms, including Tacoda, Revenue Science, and Accipiter, track consumer behavior on an individual site-by-site basis. Behavioral targeting networks like 24/7 Real Media and Advertising.com track consumer behavior across their publishing networks.

But none of these technology providers have yet signed a major Web portal (such as AOL, Yahoo!, or MSN), which Ponemon noted could be the litmus test for behavioral targeting's widespread acceptance. One wonders how receptive consumers and privacy groups will be to tracking Web behavior across these massive sites, which account for 38 percent of all usage minutes on the Internet, according to JupiterResearch.

The Ponemon Institute's 2004 Survey on Internet Ads was co-sponsored by Chapell & Associates and Revenue Science.