Targeted Ads Raise Privacy Concerns. A Push to Limit the Tracking of Web Surfers’ Clicks. Ads Follow Web Users, and Get Deeply Personal. Senate questions privacy impact of Web monitoring for ads | The. Monitoring customers' Web browsing to serve up targeted advertisements is coming under increased political scrutiny on privacy grounds, making the future of the controversial technique among Internet service providers less than certain.
A hearing convened by a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday is the latest potential obstacle to widespread adoption of the practice, which relies on intercepting customers' Internet packets and building anonymized profiles that can be used for topic-based advertisements. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., suggested that the procedure amounts to "wiretapping" and promised a followup hearing in the near future to explore the subject further. It's like "you go to CVS and there's someone behind you making notes...and that becomes part of a data bank they send to someone," Dorgan said. Mere speechifying by Washington politicians can't prohibit an otherwise legal product, of course. For its part, NebuAd says it's doing nothing untoward.
Is Privacy Dead? Facebook now has more traffic than any other site in the US. More than even Google. So while we're sharing and connecting, it's hard not to think about whether all the information we enter there - and on all other social networks - will ever be private again. The hottest trends, mobile and geo-tagging, have collided in a way that makes revealing a quick trip to the bank a dangerous game. Or is it? We've assembled a diverse and wide-ranging panel to discuss just that. From search engines, to health care, the question of privacy and access cannot be avoided. Come ready with your questions for what promises to be a lively discussion!
Moderated by Declan McCullagh, CNET Panelists:Michael Schechter, Senior Program Manager, Bing Sue deLeeuw, Senior Director Corporate Brand Marketing, Blue ShieldTim Schigel, CEO & Co-Founder, ShareThis Tim Collins, Senior VP Experiential Marketing, Wells FargoRyan Singel , WIRED.