One of the things we will be focusing on on our forthcoming digital day will be the progress that we have seen in the tracking technology which has enabled advertisers to get a lot closer to their target audience. However, US privacy advocates and consumer bodies are currently aiming to enable internet users to opt-out of ad tracking if they don’t want to be tracked.
Obviously this is bad news for advertisers as it will mean more wastage on disinterested parties, however, isn’t it also bad news for consumers? Ultimately all this new technology should bring them more relevant and useful ads and what the ad tracking opt out will only mean is that they will see exactly the same number of ads but more irrelevant ones than they have been served until now. Plus, online ads are a lot less intrusive than cold calls from sales people which this ‘opt out’ has been likened to; and with online we don’t actually have personal details such as name, age etc – only their behaviours that they have shown whilst online.
Even if ad tracking opt out becomes a reality, will people really go to the trouble of opting out when it’s not really affecting their online experience anyway? Only time will tell but for now, here are some articles outlining some more issues surrounding this topic:
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