Why Johnny can't opt out Leon, Pedro; Ur, Blase; Shay, Richard ...
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems,
05/2012
Conference Proceeding
We present results of a 45-participant laboratory study investigating the usability of nine tools to limit online behavioral advertising (OBA). We interviewed participants about OBA and recorded ...their behavior and attitudes as they configured and used a privacy tool, such as a browser plugin that blocks requests to specific URLs, a tool that sets browser cookies indicating a user's preference to opt out of OBA, or the privacy settings built into a web browser. We found serious usability flaws in all tools we tested. Participants found many tools difficult to configure, and tools' default settings were often minimally protective. Ineffective communication, confusing interfaces, and a lack of feedback led many participants to conclude that a tool was blocking OBA when they had not properly configured it to do so. Without being familiar with many advertising companies and tracking technologies, it was difficult for participants to use the tools effectively.
This comment examines a recent Wall Street Journal article discussing proposed plans of MasterCard or VISA to provide customers with targeted ads as they surf the Web using information attained by ...tracking customer purchases in brick-and-mortar stores. Since the online behavioral advertising industry is largely self-regulated, this raises concerns as to whether the companies amassing this information are giving customers adequate disclosure of their collection and dissemination practices and an opportunity to give sufficient informed consent. The lack of legislation specific to these practices, or regulatory oversight, has paved the way for organizations to race to discover increasingly intrusive ways of compiling consumer information. Finding a balance between an individual's right to privacy and commercial access to personal information represents the fundamental regulatory issue that needs to be resolved. The Do Not Track laws proposed by Representative Jackie Speier of California in February of 2011 represent a good start to creating this balance. This comment will examine the specific plans proposed by VISA and MasterCard, discuss the current regulatory status of online behavioral advertising, and conclude by arguing that the proposed Do Not Track laws provide the appropriate balance between consumer privacy protection and marketing needs.
A recent trend in Internet advertising has been online behavioral advertising (OBA). For users concerned about their privacy, ad agencies provide an OBA opt-out opportunity. However, previous work ...has shown that many users misunderstand what it means to have opted out on an opt-out website. In fact, ad agencies still track the browsers of users who have opted out of OBA. In this study, we clarified what it means to be in the OBA opt-out state by crawling numerous websites and collecting browser cookies. Moreover, we analyzed the difference between the attitudes of agencies regarding OBA between before and after the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented. We found that around half of agencies stop web tracking after opt-out. However, some agencies start tracking again when users begin browsing, so the number of agencies stopping web tracking eventually declines. Furthermore, we found no evidence of a difference in agency attitudes between before and after GDPR implementation.
What matters to users? Leon, Pedro Giovanni; Ur, Blase; Wang, Yang ...
Proceedings of the Ninth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security,
07/2013
Conference Proceeding
Much of the debate surrounding online behavioral advertising (OBA) has centered on how to provide users with notice and choice. An important element left unexplored is how advertising companies' ...privacy practices affect users' attitudes toward data sharing. We present the results of a 2,912-participant online study investigating how facets of privacy practices---data retention, access to collected data, and scope of use---affect users' willingness to allow the collection of behavioral data. We asked participants to visit a health website, explained OBA to them, and outlined policies governing data collection for OBA purposes. These policies varied by condition. We then asked participants about their willingness to permit the collection of 30 types of information. We identified classes of information that most participants would not share, as well as classes that nearly half of participants would share. More restrictive data-retention and scope-of-use policies increased participants' willingness to allow data collection. In contrast, whether the data was collected on a well-known site and whether users could review and modify their data had minimal impact. We discuss public policy implications and improvements to user interfaces to align with users' privacy preferences.
Online behavioral advertising, on websites and in online applications, requires companies to make intricate trade-offs between promises of increased revenue and potential risks for alienation of ...consumers. To guide companies in making such trade-offs, we answer the research question: How do consumers perceive online behavioral advertising? We consolidate our findings in a process model linking consumer awareness of and knowledge about online behavioral advertising with their attitude towards online behavioral advertising, which shows that consumer perceptions of online behavioral advertising are not stable; instead, they constantly evolve, triggered by confrontations with online behavioral advertising. For consumers, online behavioral advertising is a feature until they get annoyed and it becomes a nuisance. This is a tight rope walk for providers of websites and online applications. Consumers want personalized content, but they do not want content that is too personal. Companies should aim to arouse positive consumer attitudes by creating added value and should revise their online behavioral advertising practices before consumer attitudes shift.
Research on online behavioral advertising has focused on users' attitudes towards sharing and what information they are willing to share. An unexplored area in this domain is how users' knowledge of ...how to protect their information differs from their self-efficacy about executing privacy protection behavior. The results of a 179-participant online study show that knowledge explains privacy concerns, but self-efficacy explains protection behaviors. Perceived behavioral control was related to both concerns and behavior.
The introduction of Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) to the world of Internet advertising has considerably increased the revenues of advertising companies. Prospectively, it is being considered as ...an approach that will be used for a long-term strategy by the industry. Therefore, the privacy protection of consumers should be one of the core building blocks for the framework that is employed in the process of collecting and aggregating the information regarding the users. However, this is not the case in the current OBA environment and hence concerns are being raised surrounding this issue. In this paper we propose a generic, secure OBA framework that can be applied to the industry, promoting the online market under the criteria of preserving the privacy of the users.
Scheme of User Privacy Protection Applied to Online Marketing da Silva Oliveira, Maria das Gracas; de Queiroz, Ruy J. G. B.
2013 12th IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications,
2013-July
Conference Proceeding
Research has shown the incredible evolution of mobile marketing and, on the other hand, has also revealed that email marketing is still widely used. Online marketing has evolved considerably in ...recent times and is becoming a key for companies wishing to ensure their survival in the online market. Online behavioral advertising (OBA) is a tool that has leveraged the evolution of digital marketing, but it is causing a big debate on the Internet. Many say that when OBA is implemented, user privacy is seriously compromised, since the tracking of user information, without their consent, is key to the OBA implementation. Based on past and current needs of new marketing trends and trying to balance the dilemma of privacy versus OBA, a scheme was developed to safeguard user privacy, as well as allow for the continued evolution of the OBA.
Purpose
– This article compares the use of deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to the use of cookies for online behavioral advertising (OBA), in the form of two competing paradigms. It seeks to ...explain why DPI was eliminated as a viable option due to political and regulatory reactions whereas cookies technology was not, even though it raises some of the same privacy issues.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paradigms draw from two-sided market theory to conceptualize OBA. Empirical case studies, NebuAd's DPI platform and Facebook's Beacon program, substantiate the paradigms with insights into the controversies on behavioral tracking between 2006 and 2009 in the USA. The case studies are based on document analyses and interviews.
Findings
– Comparing the two cases from a technological, economic, and institutional perspective, the article argues that both paradigms were equally privacy intrusive. Thus, it rejects the generally held view that privacy issues can explain the outcome of the battle. Politics and regulatory legacy tilted the playing field towards the cookies paradigm, impeding a competing technology.
Originality/value
– Shifting the narrative away from privacy to competing tracking paradigms and their specific actors sheds light on the political and the regulatory rationales that were not considered in previous research on OBA. Particularly, setting forth institutional aspects on OBA – and DPI in general – the case studies provide much needed empirical analysis to reassess tracking technologies and policy outcomes.
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