Advertising.com concluded a study in October 2005 and while it
was designed to help advertisers find more profitable ways to
influence consumers, results revealed some very interesting "side
effects."
The new rage is behavioral advertising and the big news is
that it convert to cash at a significantly higher rate than
contextual advertising. Wait, don't go, don't let your eyes
cross here, this is not geek stuff. It is about your right
to privacy which some agencies insist you don't have.
What this means is that you need to watch where you step, watch
were your mouse clicks, and stay away from sites that are loaded up
with ads that seem "made for you."
That's because they are. "They" have been tracking you.
Watching where you go and what you look at. Cookies (sweet
name for such an indigestible object) are everywhere, having been
cooked up in the programming ovens of cyberspace. They are of
some slight value in that if you are surfing around for a new car
with good fuel economy, you don't want popups for garden tractors.
Especially if you live in a penthouse in Manhattan. Actually,
if you live anywhere on this planet, you do not want popups.
They are full of cookies.
Confused? Don't be. Just know that it's more "big
brother" stuff and either avoid sites that use it or give up and
don't worry about it. If you appreciate that looking at real
estate listings in the local newspaper website, you can probably
count on behavioral targeting to provide mortgage company ads
or those of local realtors on the same pages, then definitely don't
worry about it. If you would rather that your every online
move not be tracked, and feel confident that you can find a mortgage
broker or realtor by doing a search for them, then hey, don't go
back to that newspaper site.
Aw, too late, they already know you are looking for property and
your credit history is now probably sitting on the realtors' and
mortgage company servers. It may go into a database that your
employer can access to learn how you're spending your money, and
that you are thinking about moving, which means it would be
pointless to give you that promotion.
If you were to visit a health site because the 6:00 news broke a
story on that new drug all the kids are taking (supposedly) and
advised you to go to their website for more information, it is
recorded. No problem, but you are having some strange symptoms
and so you look them up too while you're there. No problem.
But then the following month your aging aunt asks you to look up
heart medication discounts and you say "sure, no problem...."
There is now a problem. You (your IP address) is flagged
because you have three hits. You may be a drug user who is
experiencing symptoms that put you at special risk since you are
also on heart medications. Your insurance carrier gets a flag
warning and your next premium payment just is simply not received.
Your notice that your policy is about to lapse is truly not
received. Lost in the mail. Your next check to the
company gets lost or delayed and bingo, you are no longer covered,
you high risk customer you!
Science fiction? No. Just a real life warning about
real life advances in information-gathering technology. And
the reason we guarantee never to expose you to that kind of
intrusion.
So do you need to thank TheDogPlace.com? Nah. Just
feel free to visit any page, click on any advert and know you are
safe here. If in doubt, visit our
privacy policy
Side
Effects 06