Rather, the latter, because targeted online advertising continues to be accused of violating user rights.Try telling your mom (or anyone else who isn't into digital marketing) about the different types of online advertising, and then ask them to retell what they heard in their own words. Most likely it will be something like:
"IP targeting is like snail mail. Companies show me targeted ads because they can anticipate my interests by knowing the demographics of the area where I live." "That's right, mom."
"Internal analytics targeting is like calls and emails from organizations I've already ordered from. They think they could sell me something else, so they contact me." "Quite right."
"Third-party analytics advertising is when I get calls or emails from companies that track my every move: where I go, what emails I get, what stores I prefer." "Um... Harsh, but yes, something like that."
Of course, a person will immediately ask if he can somehow influence this. In the case of IP targeting, everything is quite simple, because this information is captured by your ISP. You can simply go to your personal account and uncheck the box next to "IP targeting". After this simple procedure, tracking of your IP address will stop in all browsers from all devices connected to the Internet through this provider. Please note: This does not apply to third party geotargeting.
As for cookies, they can be managed through the browser. But refusing to accept cookies is not the best solution, because this mechanism is needed not only for targeting, but also, for example, for your browser to work correctly on various sites. At the same time, an uninitiated person is likely to be very surprised to learn how many companies leave their data on his computer without his knowledge. Particularly controversial in this case is the participation of third parties, that is, organizations that transfer their Cookies to you only because they cooperate with companies whose websites you have visited.
Still, no marketer would support a complete ban on tracking, as the prudent use of third-party cookies not only benefits advertisers, but also users themselves. If only internal analytics is used, there will be an imbalance in the work of large and small sites. The former will have too much advantage.
In general, it is impossible to deny the problem of privacy in the world of advertising, and, unfortunately, none of the current measures to protect the rights of users can be considered effective. Even the activities of the NAI (National Advertising Initiative) - the organization that regulates digital advertising standards in the United States - do not produce significant results. Firefox, which recently announced that browser tracking will be disabled by default, sees this as a long-awaited solution to the privacy problem. In fact, it's like getting rid of cockroaches by shooting them with a bazooka. Again, the Mozilla team cannot be blamed for being too radical, because they are responding to the demands of their users in this way.
Most likely, the ISP approach can be considered the optimal model for managing personal data. A convenient, user-friendly interface allows the most inexperienced user to easily disable IP targeting. This is exactly the kind of mechanism that the advertising industry should strive for if they are interested in tracking user activity.
Advertisers, marketplaces, ISPs and developers of new technologies must come together to find an effective and practical way to manage users' personal data. The appearance of new targeted solutions from the category of "one heals, the other cripples" will, at best, aggravate the situation, and at worst, lead to radical legislative measures.
