AOL Readies Tool to Shield Web Users From Marketers

Nov 01, 12:32 PM

Current Headlines: By Louise Story

Many consumers are familiar with do-not-call lists, which are meant to keep telemarketers from phoning them. Soon people will be able to sign up for do-not-track lists, which will help shield their Web-surfing habits from the prying eyes of marketers.

Such lists will not reduce the number of ads that people see online, but they will prevent advertisers from using their online meanderings to deliver specific ad pitches to them.

On Wednesday, the AOL division of Time Warner said it would offer a service of this type by the end of the year.

AOL said it would set up a new Web site that would link consumers directly to opt-out lists run by the largest advertising networks. The site's technology would ensure that people's preferences were not erased later.

There is a silver lining for marketers, however: The AOL site will try to convince people that they should choose to share personal data in order to get pitches for products they might like. Most Web sites, including AOL, already collect data about users to send them specific ads, but AOL is choosing to become more open about the practice and will run ads about it in coming months.

Consumers who have already seen benefits from online tracking systems - in the form of movie recommendations from Netflix, perhaps, or product recommendations from Amazon - might warm to AOL's argument.

"Instead of having interruptive ads, instead of jarring things that will grab your attention, things are hopefully tailored to be suitable to your experience," said Jules Polonetsky, the chief privacy officer for AOL. "We think tailoring advertising content in a way that is useful is a good proposition."

Advertising companies fashion their behavioral targeting models differently, but generally the practice involves linking demographic information and Web site visits. Much of the information is gathered anonymously, without links to people's names.

Consumer advocacy groups asked U.S. regulators to set up some kind of do-not-track list for the Internet, but the commission was hesitant to issue regulations that might slow innovation on the Web, said Eileen Harrington, of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

"We haven't reached conclusions on any of these questions," Harrington said. "The big news here for us is - and maybe it seems obvious when you say it fast - is that advertising has changed dramatically."

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

(c) 2007 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.