Mozilla has postponed activating the third-party blocking feature on its latest browser, Firefox 22, according to an update on its developer page. The blocking feature has been postponed “to collect data on the effect of blocking some third-party cookies,” according to the blog post. A Mozilla spokesperson provided the following statement: “Mozilla has been actively […]
David Bell, the chairman emeritus for Interpublic Group, offered his take on some barriers to growth in digital advertising today at Aol’s Thought Leadership Summit on programmatic advertising. Number one on his hit list was the clutter of ad tech startups. He also took aim at the power wielded by procurement officers and bashed the ad industry for […]
The Tracking Protection Working Group is meeting this week in Sunnyvale, Calif. in its latest attempt to create a tech spec for the Do Not Track browser feature. Progress has been excruciatingly slow for the group, which operates under the aegis of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Disparate interests have been unable to agree on even […]
In a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee, Chairman John “Jay” Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) accused the ad industry of dragging its feet on the creation of specs for a Do Not Track browser option. “A commitment was made to honor Do Not Track requests from consumers that has not yet been followed through,” Rockefeller said […]
It’s been almost a year since Microsoft first pledged to default-enable Do Not Track in Internet Explorer 10, setting off an urgent debate about the future of third-party ad tracking which continues to this day. The company has endured attacks both withering (“paternalistic,” said Evidon) and mild (“absolutely not helpful,” offered IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg), […]
“Data Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Jay Friedman, COO at Goodway Group. Have you seen recent articles about the Firefox cookie-blocking privacy debate? I don’t blame those of us in the digital media community for going […]
Mozilla’s move to stop third-party cookie tracking in the latest version of its Firefox browser – echoing Apple’s Safari browser attributes – has attracted wide attention across the advertising industry. And no wonder – Mozilla’s Firefox has about a 23% share among consumers in the browser market. AdExchanger reached out to a selection of […]
Jon Leibowitz, the Federal Trade Commission Chairman who aggressively pushed for more checks on the digital ad sector, will step down this month. Leibowitz was assiduous in his pursuit of what he saw as overstepping by companies engaged in consumer data collection. His language could be inflammatory, as when he said in 2009 that “a […]
Consumers aren’t as worried about privacy issues and have started to embrace companies targeting them with ads and offers when those messages are relevant, according to Accenture Interactive. In fact, consumers now turn to mobile and personalized targeted offers and marketing elements while shopping and researching purchases. After surveying 2,000 customers in the U.S. and […]
The two leading presidential campaigns are exposing website visitor data to third parties via URL and page title information, according to Jonathan Mayer, a privacy advocate and Stanford graduate student. Mayer examined the information made available on the two candidates’ campaign websites, and found “both leak.” What’s more, he says the information visible to third parties […]
There was a time when the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) was the only self-regulatory game in town. Formed in 1999 to enforce self-imposed rules for online advertising, its visibility has been at a low ebb since heightened attention from the FTC and Congress sparked a new umbrella group, the Digital Advertising Alliance. The NAI is […]
The following is from Rachel Whetstone, SVP of Communications and Policy at Google and is in response to today’s claim by Microsoft that Google had bypassed IE privacy settings. Microsoft omitted important information from its blog post today. Microsoft uses a “self-declaration” protocol (known as “P3P”) dating from 2002 under which Microsoft asks websites […]
With consumer privacy concerns around online behavioral advertising continuing to percolate both inside and outside the industry, AdExchanger.com asked a selection of ad technology executives their thoughts on how to articulate the opportunity unlocked by the use of tracking the consumer online for advertising purposes. Simply, the question is… “If a consumer asked you “Why […]
“The Debate” is a column focused on the current debate around ad targeting and consumer privacy. Today’s article is written by Jeff Hirsch, President and CEO, AudienceScience, an online advertising technology company. I hear and read a lot these days about the democratizing power of the Internet. It’s a great issue. Some pundits say entire […]
At yesterday’s AlwaysOn OnMedia NYC 2011 event at The Paley Center in New York City, ad technology companies gathered to talk ads, tech and business. One morning session, in particular, pricked up the ears of the data-driven digerati as reporter Emily Steel of The Wall Street Journal appeared to ably moderate a panel discussion comprised […]
Chris Babel is CEO of TRUSTe, a privacy services company. AdExchanger.com: TRUSTe started as a non-profit and moved to profit status in 2008. Why the change? Do you still consider the company a start-up? CB: We realized that without transitioning to a for-profit company with a venture capital infusion we weren’t going to be able […]
The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) announced today that it has approved “Better Advertising’s Assurance Platform as an Approved Technology and a standard method for providing evidence of participating companies’ compliance with the cross-industry self-regulatory program for online behavioral advertising.” Read the release. And, read about the self-regulation principles on the DAA site. CEO Scott Meyer […]
At yesterday’s Yieldex Executive Summit, The New York Times vp for research and development operations, Michael Zimbalist, took to the stage to provide attendees with an overview of the state of online ad industry regulation momentum as it relates to consumer privacy. Zimbalist appears to be at or near the tip of the spear in […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. Google Billings Revealed Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth reveals the contents of what he says is an internal Google document which shows recent spending by Google’s largest search advertisers. Learmonth writes, “Our review of $574 million of Google’s U.S. billings over the first half of […]
“The Debate” is a column focused on the current debate around ad targeting and consumer privacy. Today’s article is written by Amiad Solomon, Founder & President, Peer39. From the inception of the internet, online advertisers have been continuously experimenting with methods of targeting ads, in search of a technology that delivers a brand’s ideal audience, […]
“The Debate” is a column focused on the current debate around ad targeting and consumer privacy. Today’s article is written by: Ed Zimmerman, Mark Kesslen, and Matthew Savare, Lowenstein Sandler, a law firm. (See bios.) Let’s say you’re surfing the web, planning your next vacation with the family. You visit several travel sites, book your […]
Scott Meyer is CEO of Better Advertising, a company focused on provide a solution for privacy self-regulation for the online advertising industry. AdExchanger.com: Please discuss your background and how it brings you to where you are today. SM: I’ve been in the digital media business since 1998, including eight years with The New York Times […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. Outside.In VC Pockets Neighborhood news/blog aggregator Outside.In announced that it rang the register with a $7 million round of financing with investors that include CNN, Union Square Ventures and Betaworks . As newspapers struggle to find a solution to drive revenue, local news solutions […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. We Have A Winner The advertising industry may have finally found an able spokesperson in the human form of Berin Szoka, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. (The title alone is impressive!) Szoka, in an interview […]
Another privacy piece on the behavioral ad network business has been launched – this time by The New York Times’ Stephanie Clifford. In her piece entitled, “Ads Follow Web Users, and Get Deeply Personal,” web ads are considered “Orwellian.” Good god. That’s over the top and reminiscent of other recent pieces in the media (like […]
