Privacy has become a big deal but only in certain circles. Consider the average consumer; if you ask them whether they are concerned about their privacy, they’ll tell you that they are yet the average consumer has no idea what that really means – privacy for most people is a pretty abstract idea. For example, think of the HIPPA declarations your physicians have us sign – do you really know what they mean?
Privacy has become a big deal but only in certain circles. Consider the average consumer; if you ask them whether they are concerned about their privacy, they’ll tell you that they are yet the average consumer has no idea what that really means – privacy for most people is a pretty abstract idea. For example, think of the HIPAA declarations your physicians have us sign – do you really know what they mean?
While HIPAA-driven privacy at least has a regulatory framework that means that your health information should be properly curated, the same can’t be said for privacy outside of healthcare. Just consider the endless privacy notices that the financial companies you deal with send you … hardly anyone reads them and what they all say, more or less, is that the financial institution will do with your private data whatever they please. Of course, you can opt out … but if you choose to do so then there’s a set of hoops you have to jump through … it’s pretty much all in their favor by default.
This situation in the private sector means we’re going to wind up with a huge pool of people whose privacy is potentially compromised by their default inclusion in marketing programs. While this will, in the main, not go so far as to involve identity theft, it’s the constant stalking and pitching that the more informed Internet user often finds, at the best, annoying and, at the worst, intrusive and unacceptable.
I just talked to Intelliprotect, a company that addresses these concerns with an interesting privacy enhancing service based on an equally interesting business model.
What Intelliprotect provides is “automated personal privacy management” by several methods that include blocking of behavioral tracking (by setting “do not track” cookies), removal of your e-mail address from the major marketing lists, an unsubscribe service should you get on a list after your initial bulk unsubscribes, and an analysis of your privacy through a scoreboard that rates your exposure to tracking and on mailing lists.
On of the things that Intelliprotect leverages is the opt-out service offered by the Network Advertising Initiative, an association of advertising networks, data exchanges, and marketing analytics services providers.
The NAI service is very interesting: If you go to its page it will tell you which advertising networks have dropped cookies on your system and which of those you have opted out of. By checking the “opt-out” box for each of the currently 66 networks shown and then clicking on “Submit” you can stop these companies from tracking you … Intelliprotect does this automatically as well as for more than another 100 companies that offer a similar feature but aren’t affiliated with NAI.
Now, you might wonder how all of these advertising networks tolerate the likes of Intelliprotect? Why would they be members of the NAI? The answer is simple: If they don’t provide an opt-out option they invite trouble … people like me and you, being the well-informed Network World Web Applications Alert Newsletter reader that you are, will be very critical of their motivation and methods and that could easily turn into a political hot potato that could invite regulatory control.
The reality is, as I discussed in the beginning of this newsletter, that not that many people really “get” privacy and even fewer care much about it. Even so, those few number in the tens of thousands thanks to the wonderful aggregating power of the Internet so a company like Intelliprotect can find more than enough customers to be profitable and still not threaten the effective owners of the niche that their service is aimed at. It is, as they say, a “win-win”.
So, if you find the idea of being tracked and being the subject of behavioral targeting unacceptable and want a simple way to solve the problem Intelliprotect, priced at $8.95 per month or $78 per year, is a great way to build a foundation for your online privacy.
