Internet Users Get Some Privacy
July 2, 2009 by Mark Ellis
Filed under Business
As you use popular search engines, you may notice that the online advertisements start to, for lack of a better phrase, read your mind. However, these advertisements are part of a widespread marketing tactic that aims to collect internet users’ search information and then direct ads to users based on their most frequent searches.
Today, though, the online advertisement industry is expected to announce a set of reforms and guidelines for their practice of what some internet users have seen as invasions of privacy. Apparently, users will be able to decide to not participate in what is called behavioral advertising in order to have more control over their data.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau trade group is responsible for the new development, and they have worked with over 5,000 advertising companies as well as the largest search providers, such as Yahoo and Google, to enact the new policies. These groups got together in order to create seven main principles of privacy protection, of which consumer control is the focal point.
Pesky Ad (Image: Flickr)
