There is a debate happening in the industry right now about the impact cookies (the tiny piece of code dropped by publishers on your browser to help keep track of certain information) are having on privacy. The debate was set off by The Wall Street Journal with “The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets”, which explores the myriad ways marketers are using tracking technologies to reach and influence consumer decisions. One of the more insightful analyses of this debate came from Josh Chasin of comScore in a post he wrote for MediaPost entitled, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Cookie Monster.” Despite the fact that Mr. Chasin’s company is a beneficiary of many of the cookie technologies he references, his point has some face validity – the information that is currently being collected through ad cookie technology isn’t as damning as the ad cookie opposition would have you believe. While this is true today, is this a function of the industry’s altruism or a limitation of the technology?
Anyone can see how they are being viewed by the major cookie-targeting companies. Most of these companies provide information publicly on the attributes they associate with cookie data collected from your browser, but most people don’t know this. For ease, I’ve listed links to some of the major players here - click on anyone of these to view what your attribute associations look like (Yahoo!, Google, Blue Kai) (go to the ”Cookie Monster” link above to get a more comprehensive list). I decided to check it out myself and found it interesting to see what each of these players believe about me based on my browsing history.
Yahoo! accurately guessed my demographics both in the office and at home. More interestingly, my wife and I sometimes use the same computer at home, but I prefer a different browser than she does. Yahoo! was able to clearly associate each browser with the appropriate demographic (begs the question, what if my wife and I use the same browser – what then? What are the rules for determining context in these situations? Discussion for another time). Google had less public information on me and presented me with options to “customize” my ad viewing experience.
Beyond demographics, it appears the information browsers collect are primarily based on browsing history. This is where the privacy debate takes on greater weight and where privacy concerns seem to be largely focused. Do I have the same protections I enjoy when I’m behind the four walls of my household? As long as I’m not doing anything illegal, what I do when I’m at home is my business and no one elses. The same should apply to my time spent web surfing, right? Mr. Chasin’s contention is that the cookie-targeting companies aren’t very good at collecting this information so we shouldn’t be worried. The conspiracy theorists among us will say that these companies are collecting a lot more information about us, and are, in fact, very good at what they do.
I come down somewhere in the middle of this debate. I do believe that the way I navigate through the web on a daily basis speaks volumes about the person I am (or I am not). And, therein lies the challenge. Data can be interpreted in a number of different ways. On the most innocent level, this may mean the ads sent to me might not exactly represent my tastes. On the flip side, this information can profile me in ways I might not be too comfortable with.
I’m far from a conspiracy theorist, but I understand the power data can wield. One small example that might help to illustrate the potential danger of mis-interpretation. Let’s say that based on cookie data, I’m profiled as a male in his forties. The cookie data also sees that I’ve spent a fair amount of time on Ebay.com looking for 4-year old girl clothes, on Amazon.com looking for Barbie dolls and accessories. So far, pretty innocent, and can mostly be explained as a father preparing for a birthday party for his daughter. Now, what if the cookie data also uncovers that I’ve created a profile on Club Penguin and Club Nintendo and I’ve spent time on Google.com searching for locations where little kids might be hanging out? Still innocent? In my case, yes, as I’m a father of a 4 year old and those are all things I’ve done to make my daughters birthday fun, but what if the cookie-data analysis profiled me incorrectly as single, never married and without kids? Then what? Wouldn’t that be cause for concern? For some, it might.
The above scenario will undoubtedly spur a lively discourse. Similar to the many other polarizing debates confronting us these days, each side could offer equally compelling arguments and there would be no clear answer. Lets take a look at how each side might view the above scenario.
In a post-9/11 world, many have come to accept some infringement of civil liberties, especially if it results in making us all a little safer. As such, individuals on this side of the debate would argue that I should be profiled and investigated based on my behavior. Isn’t it worth a small inconvenience to thwart a crime that involves a child? Hard to argue with, unless of course, you are on the other side of the debate.
The other side would argue that any crack in the foundational structure of our civil liberties weakens us all; that a crack will quickly expand to a small hole and beyond. They would also argue that the price to me would be far greater than a minor inconvenience. With the speed and influence of the internet I would be castigated immediately. Forget innocence until proven guilty, I would be judged without ability to defend myself. I could lose my business, my friends and livelihood. All because I was trying to make my daughter’s birthday special and fun for her.
The above example may be a bit far-fetched, but there is no doubt that the potential for information to be manipulated by poor or misguided analysis is not insignificant. Data is often imperfect, and as such, can be massaged to prove hypotheses, no matter the credibility or consequence. As The Wall Street Journal article pointed out, there are literally hundreds of cookies resident on our browsers collecting information about us without us even knowing it. Those digital four walls you thought secured you in a cloak of online privacy protection now have many little peep-holes that you can’t see exist! Nor do you have much say in how those data-gathering pieces of code get dropped on your browser. However – and this is where I’m a believer in some form of data collection online – data can be analyzed in a variety of contextually-relevant ways. The end result would be a more useful, entertaining and relevant experience. The big difference for me, and I suspect millions of other online users, is that I want to control who or what is tracking my behavior and right now there is no easy way for me to easily achieve this. So, for now, I’ll need to accept the limitations of the algorithms that define me online and have faith that the companies collecting the data and doing these analyses don’t have nefarious objectives. Definitely more to come on this topic….
