Mozilla's "Do Not Track" browser stirs up concern from advertisers

[anuseems]

Online businesses often rely on advertising to bring in revenue. Unfortunately, when tracking the activity of users in an effort to drive targeted ads, the line between innocent observation and privacy violation begins to blur. The use of third-party cookies is one of the easiest ways for a company to learn more about prospective customers; something that Mozilla plans to tackle in an upcoming version of the Firefox browser.

Mozilla first announced the Do Not Track feature back in February, but later said that it had to undergo further testing. Despite the ongoing hiatus, the company continues to face backlash from the advertising community, with many claiming that this will have a negative impact on the entire online network. Mike Zaneis, general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, called the new browser a nuclear first strike against advertisers.

Its important to note that Mozilla does not intend to block all cookies, just those that are deemed undesirable. After all, cookies can be beneficial and serve purposes such as remembering settings for sites that we frequently visit. The company has been working alongside the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford to develop the list of websites whose data gathering priveleges will be axed; an initiative being called the Cookie Clearinghouse.

Aleecia McDonald, director of privacy at CIS, added, The Cookie Clearinghouse will create, maintain and publish objective information. Web browser companies will be able to choose to adopt the lists we publish to provide new privacy options to their users.

In response to the statement, advertisers argue that numerous online businesses, many of which are small web establishments, will cease to function if cookie-blocking browsers become the standard. However, this already seems to be the case; Apple's Safari browser carries a similar privacy feature, while Microsoft's IE10 has made the "Do Not Track" technology its default setting. Its troubling, added Lou Mastria, the managing director for the Digital Advertising Alliance. "They're putting this under the cloak of privacy, but it's disrupting a business model."

@ http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/mozilla-moves-ahead-do-not-track-browser-150487

[stylemessiah]

I feel *so* sorry for the advertisers....not

Looking forward to the day when i dont have to proactively block their crap and can remove all the software i have to block them, and they stop stealing my bandwidth

Will blocking 3rd party cookies alone stop that, no......

[Alcala]

"They're putting this under the cloak of privacy, but it's disrupting a business model."

Well, isn't it time to change said "business model"?

[dcs18]

Online businesses often rely on advertising to bring in revenue. Unfortunately, when tracking the activity of users in an effort to drive targeted ads, the line between innocent observation and privacy violation begins to blur. The use of third-party cookies is one of the easiest ways for a company to learn more about prospective customers; something that Mozilla plans to tackle in an upcoming version of the Firefox browser.

My Mozilla browsers are already configured (since ages) to block all cookies, by default - there are are hardly a few select essential cookies that are permitted (anyways, permitted cookies are deleted after each session.) Not sure why one would need to wait for Mozilla to implement the same. :dunno:

[nIGHT]

Advertising is not bad and disturbing when done right and properly.

Advertising gives us a lot of free things like free movies, free access to sites/forums (like our forum) and many more freebies.

But many advertisers made it assertive and perseverant as to annoy and piss off a lot of users that force them to find solutions to block ads.

These ad-blocking addons or software happen to also block ads from sites that relied only on revenues generated from the profit on ads.

If these sites does not earn from ads (like our forum), we will have to pay a premium just to access it.

These profit generated from ads pays for the maintenance of our site/forum.

When you start installing your ad-blocking addons just remember to exempt our site/forum from it. ;)

[dcs18]

Advertising is not bad and disturbing when done right and properly.

Unfortunately, this part is not in our hands - so, an aggressive stance is called for to combat ads.

When you start installing your ad-blocking addons just remember to exempt our site/forum from it. ;)

http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/172674-disable-anti-adblockers/?p=587794. ;)

[nIGHT]

Advertising is not bad and disturbing when done right and properly.

Unfortunately, this part is not in our hands - so, an aggressive stance is called for to combat ads.

Well we do have the choice in our hands to exempt our beloved site/forum from the adblocks.

Our site/forum ads are non-intrusive and non-persistent.

It is just our way of supporting and thanking this site/forum by allowing ads in this site.

When you start installing your ad-blocking addons just remember to exempt our site/forum from it. ;)

http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/172674-disable-anti-adblockers/?p=587794. ;)

I get your point and I do agree for that part where if you really have a shitty and paid per bandwidth-download connection you really should be exempt from having ads. But, in my case, having a fixed monthly internet subscription with a mediocore speed, I'll do my part and continue to support allowing and viewing ads on this site/forum. Cheers! ;)