Do Not Track is a common phrase used to describe a way for people to opt out of online behavioral advertising. The company said the offering will ‘provide a simple step for consumers to express their ad targeting preferences to Yahoo’. Yahoo’s Do Not Track tool has been under development since last year and is almost ready for prime time.
Yahoo executives on Wednesday announced that users will be able to access the company’s Do Not Track header by early summer, and will include Yahoo’s entire network, including such properties as Right Media and Interclick. The company further mentioned that its tool conforms with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s principles.
“Yahoo has decided, for PR reasons, to get out in front of Do Not Track and be seen as responsive to consumers and their privacy concerns rather than dragging their feet,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “Everyone eventually will need to do some version of this. Yahoo is wise to seize the initiative and gain the positive exposure that will come with it.”
Websites like Yahoo have the expertise to offer up more relevant ads based on your Web activity. If you search for a lot of recipes, for instance, ads for cooking classes might be of more interest than ads for men’s clothing. But some lawmakers and privacy advocates are concerned about just how much data Internet companies have about you, so these “Do Not Track” options offer Web users to ability to opt out of having their activity tracked.
The Internet company’s decision comes amid a cacophony of noise encircling the issue of online privacy. In recent months, top-tier companies like Facebook and Google have faced criticism from users and government agencies alike for the way they handle the issue of consumer privacy and for the amount of personal data they collect from their users. Such data can be used by advertisers to more easily target personalized ads to users.
On the other hand, Yahoo’s announcement comes several days after the Federal Trade Commission published its final report on privacy, which urged Congress to enact general privacy legislation even as it recommended that companies build in simpler and more transparent privacy options for consumers, like “Do Not Track.”
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz talked about the topic today during the latest in a series of House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearings on consumer privacy. Leibowitz pressed for five key “Do Not Track” principles: universal implementation; ease of use; no option to override; no technical loopholes; and the ability to opt out of not just targeted ads but all behavioral data tracking.
However, some privacy advocates are concerned that as the standard moves through the process, it could be thinned out into more of a Do Not Target standard.
Nevertheless, rival Google embraced Do Not Track policies for its Chrome browser in February, joining other vendors implementing the technology, including Microsoft in Internet Explorer, Mozilla in Firefox and Apple in Safari.