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If you're active on the Web, you may or
may not be aware that the location of "where you've been" and "what
you've done" can be stored and accessed from your hard drive --
without your knowledge or permission.
The increased awareness and press over this browser feature, referred
to innocently as the "cookie," has influenced Internet software
publishers to make significant modifications to their products.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, the file cookies.txt,
typically found in the browser directory, allows information to
be read from or written to an individual's hard drive. Information
such as which sites you visit and the activities performed (e. g.,
keywords used during searches, type of products ordered) can be
stored and accessed by those sites that choose to use this technology.
I recently received an e-mail from an individual who had discovered
and analyzed the cookie file on his hard drive. He commented:
"As you mentioned,
cookies are a way for web-site providers to store information
about their users. I found some cookies in my cookies.txt file,
too. The information stored there is really not what I want stored
about me: last visit, large numbers, advertising numbers, etc.
Especially the large numbers, which I guess is something like
a customer number, which could be very dangerous. By use of this
number as a pointer to a database entry, all requests, such as
searched words, can be used to create a precise profile."
In an e-mail sent to a company which manipulated his cookie file,
he wrote, "From our point of view, it would be OK to store information,
if the user agrees to that."
Cookies are also used by the Web-based advertising programs which
deliver banner ads based on the actions and preferences of the individual.
In this type of Web advertising model, targeting is performed by
"looking over the user's shoulder," in many cases without their
knowledge.
Of course, access to a wealth of knowledge about a prospect or
customer is very enticing to marketers.
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However, if the information is acquired without the individual's
knowledge or participation, its usage becomes more than questionable.
In addition to the privacy invasion, there's another inherent problem
with using cookies for targeted advertising, which is evident if
there are multiple users sharing one PC system. Think about the
use of a singular PC in a home/family setting. The parent might
regularly frequent financial and investment-related sites, whereas
the children might frequent sites based on their favorite Saturday
morning cartoons.
It's very easy for the cookie file to be convoluted with incorrect
demographic and psychographic data based on the sites visited and
the actions taken by multiple users of a single machine. In addition,
a banner ad could be served that's inappropriate for a particular
family member.
Heralded as a milestone event in the realm of cyberspace, the
next versions of Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer
will allow users to disarm the cookie file. This is an extremely
important step in privacy protection, while also being a significant
factor affecting how companies market on the Web.
With the cookie feature disarmed, site targeting based on testing
a media plan of sites using measured impressions and click-through
rates will be the methodology of choice by Web marketers. This methodology
isn't bound or driven by the cookie file. Instead, it's guided by
a testing and measuring cycle which is responsible and respects
an individual's privacy.
Under this system, marketers can assess the demographics and psychographics
of a site's visitors based on the content, products or services
offered by that site (i.e., a site selling children's educational
software is most likely visited by parents with children). This
straightforward thinking drives the selection of Web sites and easily
integrates into a company's overall marketing efforts.
The user's ability to disable the cookie file marks a significant
improvement in online privacy while influencing sweeping changes
in Web-based marketing. It's definitely a step in the right direction
that benefits both users and Internet marketers alike.
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