The Network Advertising Initiative recently completed a comprehensive review of the practices of its members, culminating in its 2009 Annual Report. Given the recent criticism of how Flash cookies may be used to track user behavior (see prior posts), I was pleased to see the NAI cover that practice in its review, and to reiterate the rule against the practice. While this is a big step forward, the NAI should go further to fully resolve Flash cookie question as it pertains to its members.
Based on staff interviews, the report concluded that none of the evaluated companies uses Flash cookies for online behavioral advertising (see footnote 46). Since our own panel found Flash cookies being written by several NAI members (including Specific Media and DoubleClick), the NAI must have been assured that these firms have implemented internal controls about how they use Flash cookies. But without an explanation of those assurances (or even why Flash cookies need to be used in the first place), the report is incomplete. The NAI should ask those firms to update their privacy policies to explain the use of Flash cookies and disavow their use for targeting. (See an earlier post on this as it relates to DoubleClick.)
The Flash cookie issue has rightly become a focus for privacy advocates, even though (at least as to the NAI membership), it looks like it shouldn’t be. A more unequivocal statement from the NAI members who use Flash cookies for other purposes will mean that networks abusing Flash cookies have nowhere to hide.
theirs a lot of untrusted people out their,,we need all the protection we can get,thank you
There is a gullibility in all this that disturbs me. If a company says they have a policy to do x that is NOT an obligation to do x. It is marketing ONLY. Even if they do keep their promise what they do today is no guarantee at all they will do tomorrow. Large companies work to at least 5 year rolling strategies. This is a minimum. Especially in ICT the forwarding strategic thinking will be for a decade or more. BP’s forward strategy currently runs to 2075. So what? So, first don’t believe the hype! More importantly realise that commerce is a battle between you and those who want to take your money from you. In this battle, good fences make good neighbours. Do not assume a company is a good guy ’cause they look pretty and sound nice. Realise that their interest is always their business, which is making money for their shareholders (or hoped for future shareholders). The fact is that company directors (CEOs etc) have a legal DUTY to make as much money as reasonably possible under any set of circumstances. ICT is being transformed steadily from a personal and social tool into a tunnel into your wallet. There is no technical reason for it to be so slow and buggy and insecure etc etc. The computing capacity is primarily being taken up to build this tunneling infrastructure. Ads are small beer. Tracking is bigger. Big data is huge. Will Google exist in 2075? Who will the owners of their data be? But the game plan is CRE (Customer Realtionship Management) to manage your expectations, beliefs, and desires in a way that commerce can profit by satisfying.
ps Facebook has started loading up LSOs which vanish before I can even see them. I think the game is moving faster than any of us think.