How to Deal with the Privacy Problem

Author:

Tom Hespos

Source:

When is the best time to reveal an ad targeting initiative to advertisers that has the potential to creep out consumers in new and exciting ways?
 
I'll give you a hint. It's not while there's draft legislation on the table for consumer internet privacy in the U.S.
 
Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that any questionable data practices simply be tabled until this whole privacy mess works itself out. Questionable practices shouldn't be a part of the picture at all. But as I hear more and more about where certain companies are steering their targeting initiatives, I can't help but think that the timing couldn't be worse.
 
While the IAB floats self-regulation as an actual, viable solution to the privacy problem with a straight face, some of the companies that support it are undermining its efforts -- or at least they would be if consumers knew more about how they were obtaining the information they use to target ads, as well as how they're marrying it to consumer profiles.
 
I haven't heard of any reputable organizations simply taking personally identifiable information (PII) and sharing it outside their organization for targeting at the individual level. But the following practices are fairly commonplace and result in essentially the same effect:

1. Using PII not to target ads, but to pivot from acquired data to desired external data. "Appending" is commonplace in the DM industry. But it doesn't take much to figure out that if a consumer volunteers a name, postal address, or other PII, they probably would be creeped out if you then take that PII and use it to track down everything known by a third party that's associated with that PII. If you're using PII as the thing that links relevant data together, either in one database or in an entire distributed network of data assets, isn't that precisely what most consumers intend to avoid?
2. Using data that's not classified as PII, but might as well be. There are ways to use information that might not personally identify somebody but does drill down to an individual household or small group of households. Combine that information with other information that can be ...