First it was Microsoft IE (starting with IE version 9 which will include ‘Tracking Protection Lists’) that announced they will include a new ‘easier’ setting to block unwanted tracking by websites you visit.
Now Firefox just announced that version 4.1 of their browser will prevent it (they are calling it ‘Do Not Track‘) as well and Google Chrome recently building in features that enable blocking (dubbed ‘Keep My Opt-Outs Out‘).
Yes, it is true, any user who wanted to block tracking in the past could do it by adjusting a few setting indicating not to accept cookie from certain sites. But this information was largely ‘hidden from view’ (not easily accessible if you didn’t know where to find it first). It was possible, but the majority of non-techies did not do it.
The new changes are going to make the ability to do this a lot easier going forward, and once you make the changes they are going to ‘stick’ this time (settings are permanent and deleting cookies will have no impact on the preferred status.)
These new changes come in response to a December 2010 Federal Trade Commission recommendation that all Web browsers add do not track features to enhance online surfer privacy.
Firefox’s ‘Do Not Track’ feature will attempt to use headers passed by the browser to alert potential sites of a visitors request to be eliminated from any tracking that could be used for OBA (Online Behavioral Advertising.) One caveat to both the Google and Firefox’s tracking blocking tools at the moment is that they only pertain to advertising companies that offer opt-out options, and advertisers have been slow to add such options themselves. IE9 is different and is said to allow the user to block any and all tracking no matter the opt-in / opt-out policy of the site in question.
The addition of such systems will no doubt have an impact on what sites begin to see from an analytical perspective, and this could mean big changes in the way you track the effectiveness of your business online. In fact, some lawmakers worry such laws could hurt the economy of the Internet. With little ability to track visits, it will become difficult to determine what works to generate the best return for a company and even harder for them to present their message accurately to the most targeted audience.
Going forward and with privacy laws getting stricter it looks like the ability to ‘opt out’ of tracking will be not only simple, but—although not currently—could be the default setting on a browser in the future (meaning that it would not require any interaction on the part of the client to stop the tracking—rather, it would be the norm and they would have to ‘turn it on’ if they wanted to be tracked.)
I understand giving users the freedom to elect whether to be tracked or not. We do that now however to some degree. Maybe making it easier to do that isn’t the answer. Couldn’t we just do better at explaining to them how to prevent it within their current browsers? Just a thought.
How these changes will affect things going forward like PPC advertising, split testing, and more is yet to be determined and only time will reveal that answer.
What are your thoughts on the ability to easily block tracking on websites using these upcoming tools? I would love to hear them.
Jackson says
Ultimately, this should only affect “Slum Advertisers”… companies like ‘DoubleClick’ and the old ‘Gator’… while they may be successful companies, they’re the problem.
You said it yourself… “Behavioral Advertising”… that’s the problem… it’s intrusive, and disturbing.
I don’t think Google will allow their hugely successful Analytics package to ever decay… they’ll implement a way to keep it silently running properly.
Don’t forget, that service isn’t there for us business owners… GA is used by Google to gain insight and dominate the internet, by getting a full-spectrum birds eye view… something that nobody else in the world has access to.
I could care less if slime advertisers disappear, nobody needs to be followed around by a salesman… but don’t confuse those guys with Google Analytics… they’re completely different beasts.
I see this current movement as similar to the Arbitrage ban that Google implemented years ago (although, on a federal level)… it’s just internet house-keeping, not the end of website tracking.
It’s just the end of analytics abuse.
Eric Leuenberger says
Super insights and great points. Thanks!
Jeff says
As Jackson mentions above, it appears this is targeted toward cross site cookies, or 3rd party tracking. Imagine if Google Analytics no longer worked…. AdWords participants would drop off, and Google would lose a ton of revenue, not to mention tons of other business types. This would have a major economic impact.
It sounds to me like onsite analytics packages shouldn’t have any changes in the data integrity, or way it collects data.
This could affect AdWord’s fairly new “re-targeting” feature though. It’s ironic, because people all over the web voluntarily choose to provide much more personal information via Facebook “check in” or 4Square.
In this extreme case, Germany has made using analytics tracking illegal?!
http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/01/13/german-google-analytics-users-could-face-fines-in-privacy-row/
Levi says
You’re wrong about Google Analytics. It is on the list of Do Not Track sites for IE9. So yeah, this is by far the dumbest idea ever by Microsoft. Privacy is for paranoid idiots. This information helps advertisers and doesn’t hurt the visitor in any way. People are so so so stupid.
Jason Eyermann says
This change will break many sites including many that i have built. Many sites keep people logged using a session. I’m wondering if this would affect sessions?
Jason
Eric Leuenberger says
I wouldn’t think it impacts sessions. Likely just cookies.
Levi says
It’s all based on URLs. I don’t think this affects first party cookies.