Behavioral ads debated in U.K.Internet advertising Delivering ads to Internet users via Web sites, e-mail, ad-supported software and Internet-enabled cellphones. Also called an "ad network," Internet advertising organizations act as a middleman between the advertiser and the Web sites and software publishers that display the ads. , and behavioral targeting Delivering ads based on a user's habits. If a customer registers with an e-commerce site to make a purchase, those sales along with the user's site navigation history are often stored and analyzed to make targeted offers the next time. in particular, has been a topic of recent dispute in the U.K. Last month, David Heath
David William St. , member of Parliament and leader of the Liberal Democrats' Commission on Privacy, led a debate in the House of Commons House of Commons: see Parliament. about whether or not online advertising compromises privacy. In addition to the MPs, representatives from behavioral targeting companies and execs from Internet advertising heavyweights, including Yahoo and Google, took part in the discussion. In the end, the group voted that Web ads do not compromise consumer privacy. Also in December, research institute New Media Knowledge convened a similar assembly of behavioral analysts and advertising researchers to debate the same issue. Tided "The Fire and The Fury," the panel was made up of reps from Phorm and Specific Media, firms that specialize in advertising targeting, as well as a research fellow and privacy advocate from the Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multi-disciplinary institute based at the University of Oxford in England, and housed in Balliol College, Oxford. It is devoted to the study of the societal implications of the Internet, with an aim to shape research, policy and . Throughout the event, Phorm Commercial director Nick Barnett was bombarded with questions regarding legal and ethical aspects of his company's technology, which targets Web users based on what sites they go to. Though Barnett maintained that the company's technology is perfectly legal, Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute argued the illegality of the personal information of consumers being passed on to Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. without their consent. Thus far no official legislation has been passed on the issue. |
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