Fixing the Cookie Mess
Mediapost - August 25, 2005
LIKE IT OR NOT, IF the growing controversy surrounding the misuse of cookies by our industry and their deletion by consumers is to be solved, it will be up to the publishers to do it. I had the great fortune to spend Monday in Toronto at the AdMonsters conference debating the issue on a panel with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Esther Dyson of Release 1.0, Kiumarse Zamanian of Yahoo!, and Bowen Dwelle of AdMonsters. In attendance, and very much part of the debate, were the heads of ad operations from almost all of the 50 largest ad-supported sites on the Web. It was quite a session. In spite of the fact that each of us has historically taken positions quite opposite from the others, everyone largely agreed almost immediately on a couple of key points. (Disclaimer: I can't speak for the panel and the audience, so this is my version of the discussion.) more...
The Chapell View
I completely support Dave's thoughts regarding transparency. The question is HOW you create the additional transparency. In other words, how do you communicate your privacy practices to consumers who can't be bothered to read about them in your privacy policy?
My friend Lisa Sotto and some of her colleauges at Hunton & Williams have come up with a concept known as the short-form privacy notice. The concept behind the short form notice is similar to some of the ideas being pitched in the context of downloadable software - that consumers are generally not reading EULAs, so the software publishers need to provide notice of certain software functionality outside of the EULA.
The short-form notice has received some good traction in privacy circles, but hasn't gotten anywhere in the online media world. I've tried to help Lisa introduce the short form notice to the some of the online media and advertising trade association, but the response has been less than enthusiastic.
LIKE IT OR NOT, IF the growing controversy surrounding the misuse of cookies by our industry and their deletion by consumers is to be solved, it will be up to the publishers to do it. I had the great fortune to spend Monday in Toronto at the AdMonsters conference debating the issue on a panel with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Esther Dyson of Release 1.0, Kiumarse Zamanian of Yahoo!, and Bowen Dwelle of AdMonsters. In attendance, and very much part of the debate, were the heads of ad operations from almost all of the 50 largest ad-supported sites on the Web. It was quite a session. In spite of the fact that each of us has historically taken positions quite opposite from the others, everyone largely agreed almost immediately on a couple of key points. (Disclaimer: I can't speak for the panel and the audience, so this is my version of the discussion.) more...
The Chapell View
I completely support Dave's thoughts regarding transparency. The question is HOW you create the additional transparency. In other words, how do you communicate your privacy practices to consumers who can't be bothered to read about them in your privacy policy?
My friend Lisa Sotto and some of her colleauges at Hunton & Williams have come up with a concept known as the short-form privacy notice. The concept behind the short form notice is similar to some of the ideas being pitched in the context of downloadable software - that consumers are generally not reading EULAs, so the software publishers need to provide notice of certain software functionality outside of the EULA.
The short-form notice has received some good traction in privacy circles, but hasn't gotten anywhere in the online media world. I've tried to help Lisa introduce the short form notice to the some of the online media and advertising trade association, but the response has been less than enthusiastic.
