On Second Thought... NebuAd Not Really Dead... Re-Emerges In The UK Under An Assumed Name

from the nice-one! dept

After writing about how NebuAd had shut down, a commenter pointed out this wasn't quite true. Instead, it appears the company has just re-appeared under a different name in the UK... where officials have ruled that clickstream tracking behavioral advertising can be legal (though that's gotten the UK into trouble with the EU). Apparently, NebuAd had opened a UK office, and with the shutdown of US operations, the UK office re-branded as Insight Ready Ltd., but it appears to be the same basic company, including same employees. And the Insight Ready domain name was registered by NebuAd....

Filed Under: behavioral advertising, clickstream tracking, uk
Companies: insight ready, nebuad, phorm

Ding Dong, NebuAd Is Dead

from the so-much-for-that-plan dept

While it took many months since Congress made it clear that NebuAd's somewhat sneaky clickstream tracking/behavioral advertising plans were almost certainly illegal, it appears that the company has finally shut down completely. The similar Phorm remains in operation in the UK, but is still facing significant legal scrutiny and has been running around trying to convince everyone that it's system doesn't violate anyone's privacy. Either way, there's a good lesson to be learned: while it may seem that individuals don't pay all that much attention to their privacy rights, if you cross the line and abuse what people feel is sacred, it's going to come back to bite you.

Filed Under: behavioral advertising, clickstream tracking
Companies: nebuad

Europe Begins Legal Action Against The UK For Allowing Phorm To Proceed

from the a-little-privacy,-please dept

We were quite surprised when the UK gave a basic approval of Phorm's clickstream tracking/behavioral advertising effort -- despite widespread consumer outrage that their internet surfing was being tracked and sold for advertising purposes. And given that simple approval, Phorm has been looking to aggressively expand. However, it appears that other officials may have a different idea. The European Commission has "started legal action" against the UK for allowing Phorm to proceed, saying that it seemed likely to violate European privacy rules. Who knows if this will actually go anywhere, but it seems pretty clear that the rather widespread mistrust of Phorm is making sure that it's not able to do much at all without additional scrutiny.

Filed Under: behavioral advertising, clickstream tracking, europe, privacy, uk
Companies: phorm

ISPs: It Was All NebuAd's Fault!

from the not-us!-not-us! dept

With Congress clearly indicating that it believed NebuAd's clickstream tracking behavioral advertising was illegal, there have been efforts underway to file class action lawsuits against the various ISPs who tested the service. It appears those ISPs have an interesting defense they're trying: it wasn't us! Specifically, they're claiming since all of the customer clickstream data resided on NebuAd servers, none of the blame can be put on the ISPs. That seems unlikely to fly in court, however, considering that the ISPs teamed up with NebuAd specifically for the purpose of tracking that data.

Filed Under: clickstream tracking, isps
Companies: nebuad

Behavioral Advertisers Try To Come Up With Code Of Conduct Before FTC Writes One For Them

from the self-regulation dept

While the US Congress came down hard on NebuAd for its "behavioral targeting" ad program that would be used by ISPs to track everywhere you surfed and toss up relevant ads based on overall surfing activity, the FTC was a lot more hands-off. Instead, it simply suggested that the industry figure out a way to self-regulate before the FTC felt the need to step in. So, of course, they're now trying to work out guidelines for behavioral advertising. While I tend to be against putting in place gov't regulation where there's no evidence that it's necessary, I always find industries claiming that they'll "self-regulate" amusing. It's hard to see them coming up with guidelines that will satisfy people who believe their privacy is being violated. About the only way to do that would be to make such a service entirely opt-in -- and that seems unlikely (at best).

Filed Under: behavioral ads, clickstream tracking, regulations

Phorm, Apparently Deaf To Consumer Hatred Of Being Spied On, Plans Expansion

from the seriously? dept

Phorm is the highly controversial behavioral advertising firm that teams up with ISPs to spy on your surfing habits and deliver targeted ads. The practice has raised a number of legal challenges and protests from users who were "tested on," without their knowledge. While Phorm has been found to be legal in the UK, its practices have still engendered widespread anger. Yet, the company seems particularly deaf to those concerns, and is talking about plans to expand internationally, despite the fact that similar schemes have run into legal troubles elsewhere. Perhaps before looking to expand internationally, Phorm should work on fixing its business model.

Filed Under: behavioral ads, clickstream tracking
Companies: phorm

BT Bans Talking About Phorm, Erases Earlier Discussions

from the we-were-always-at-war-with-Eurasia dept

You may recall that BT was one of the bigger supporters of Phorm, the controversial clickstream tracking system that would allow ISPs like BT to insert their own behaviorally targeted ads into your web surfing. The company held extensive trials with the system, without letting users know that their clickstream data was being sold to advertisers in order to do more targeted advertising. Now that UK officials have decided that Phorm is legal, if clearly explained to consumers, BT has chosen a funny way to make sure there's clarity around the system. Slashdot points out that BT has apparently banned discussion of Phorm on its forums and erased earlier forum discussions about the technology. How's that for openness?

Is it really so hard to allow open discussion on such a topic? If BT believes that it's reasonable to use the technology, then why not explain why clearly, responding to the critics? The only reason to erase these discussions is if BT knows that what's it's doing is highly questionable, and BT would rather not have to explain itself.

Filed Under: bans, clickstream tracking, secrecy
Companies: bt, phorm

Is Public Shame Enough To Keep ISPs From Doing Bad Stuff With Your Data?

from the not-if-no-one-knows-what's-going-on dept

While there has been a lot of attention paid recently to ISPs using clickstream tracking to provide targeted ads, it seems that many people are still focused on the activities of the ad companies, such as NebuAd, which garnered some attention from Congress for its offering. However, as we pointed out recently, many ISPs have been selling your clickstream data to others for years without people knowing about it. Now, with Congress threatening to put regulations in place, the various ISPs are scrambling to push back against that possibility.

For example, Broadband Reports points out that Verizon is claiming that the chance of a public shaming will keep the company honest. While it's certainly true that a public shaming is a risk, it's also true that the sale of clickstream data is usually kept entirely secret, which would preclude any sort of public shaming. Public shaming could work if the companies were upfront and honest with how they're using data. But, since they're not, it's difficult to see how that works as a self-regulating mechanism.

Filed Under: clickstream tracking, isps, legality, public shame, regulations
Companies: verizon

Most People Don't Realize Their ISPs Are Already Spying On Them

from the wake-up... dept

We recently wrote about how you should probably be more nervous about the data your ISP is collecting rather than what Google is collecting, because your ISP has access to a lot more data, and the data it has isn't data that you chose to give, as in the case of Google. Plus, ISPs have a long history of selling that data. Now, a new study is showing that most people have no idea that their ISPs track and sell their data, with many believing that an ISP would need to first let them know if they were doing that. In fact, many people are quite concerned about how that data would be used, not realizing that it's already being sold. And, of course, it's not just being sold to ad companies like NebuAd and Phorm, but to website tracking firms like Compete and Hitwise. And, even if that data is sold solely for the purpose of creating trend data, there's no reason that uses can't change over time. For example, the Register is noting that a recent patent lawsuit suggests that trend-tracking research firm Hitwise (which was recently bought by credit giant Experian) may be working on an advertising product as well, that also uses your clickstream data.

Filed Under: clickstream tracking, isps, legality

UK Police Stop Phorm Investigation, As They Don't See Any Criminal Behavior

from the civil,-however.., dept

While American competitor NebuAd may be on the verge of shutting down, it appears that Phorm, the controversial clickstream tracking, behavioral ad company that focused mainly on the UK market, may be dodging a series of bullets. First, the government said that clickstream tracking could be legal if the situation was clearly explained to customers and there was an obvious mechanism for opting out. Now, UK police are dropping their own investigation of earlier trials with BT, which many believed were illegal because they were done with no notice to consumers at all, and no way to opt-out. That would seem to go against the government's earlier statements, but the police are saying that there's no evidence that this is a criminal matter -- which would leave this open to civil lawsuits from individuals who were impacted by the trials.

Filed Under: clickstream tracking, isps, legality, spyware, uk
Companies: phorm