Target Practice: An Advertisement for Behavioral-Advertising Backlash

Get ready for a massive backlash against behavioral advertising, the push to target consumers across the Web based on their cookie data. I recently wrote about Expedia's foray into selling cookie data to third parties in the U.S.

The Travolution Blog, too, wonders about the advent of "Big Brother 2.0."

Now, it turns out, the European Union is slated to investigate online advertising practices against the backdrop of many people expressing outrage that consumers' privacy rights are being bashed in the latest targetting practices.

The Shearwater Blog, meanwhile, is reserving judgment on some of the particular advertising practices that triggered the EU's focus.

The EU authorities appear to be ahead of the game in these privacy matters as compared to their U.S. counterparts.

Or maybe not.

The Guardian reported that new EC regulations require Internet Service Providers to keep certain records of consumers' e-mails and Web-based phone calls.

I wonder if the EC is going to investigate itself on this privacy issue, as well.

At any rate, I believe we'll be hearing a lot more about online privacy issues in the U.S. in the coming months and years as they relate to travel e-commerce and the online retail industry in general.

In the U.S., Google recently began a behavioral advertising program, but it doesn't go as far as Expedia's PassportAds program in that Google does not sell consumers' cookie data to airlines, hotels or any other third parties.

But, it is only a matter of time before this behavioral trend gains more traction unless a groundswell labels it as misbehavior.

Should Expedia Opt Out of Behavioral Ads Push?

Imagine if your reading habits at the library or bookstore were public record and advertisers used that information to hand you a cellphone application when you walked into Best Buy?
Switch to the online arena and that's basically what's happening with Expedia's new PassportAds program, which I described here.
Expedia and others inside and outside the travel industry are selling advertisers data from your Internet cookies, supposedly without any personally identifiable information, so marketers can more-effectively target you when you surf around to major travel and non-travel websites.
When did our online travel buying habits become commodities? Probably quite some time ago, but now major websites, seeking new revenue streams, are accelerating the sale of information about your browsing habits.
While Expedia's program is for ads to be posted on U.S. websites, international advertisers are getting involved in the program, and Expedia is mulling expanding PassportAds internationally.
I don't mean to pick on Expedia. Other major websites are getting into this arena, too. It is a major trend in the advertising industry.
The FTC proposed some guidelines on the behavioral-advertising issue. Among them, the FTC rightfully argues the cookie-sellers should prominently disclose these practices to consumers and not necessarily bury these disclosures within hard-to-fathom privacy policies.
Expedia's partner in the venture, BlueKai, gives consumers the option of managing which of their buying preferences gets shared with advertisers or opting out altogether.
I visited that page, and BlueKai knew, for instance, that I would be traveling in the next 7 to 14 days.
As Expedia and other travel companies engage in bolstering their media programs by selling cookie data, at the very least they should explain their behavioral-advertising business on prime real estate, their home pages, and give unwitting consumers the option of withdrawing from these advertising programs.