The do-not-call-list absurdity meant the default setting for phone marketers was “its OK to call everybody.” Persons had to request telephone marketers NOT to call with whatever advertising message they were hired to give. Why was this so completely backward? Why wasn’t there simply an op-in list of persons and households who wanted to be called and solicited for a variety of products and or causes? Of course, the answer is, that list would be very small. Think of all the “phone banks” and the highly educated (reading the “canned” script) telephone representatives forced to find other jobs. Perhaps to the friendly ranks of the DMV.

Now comes online privacy and its impact on advertising.

Marketing / advertising has always been about “targeting.” How does the marketing message reach the exact audience with the strongest potential for making a buying or “action” decision? When Callaway sponsors a show on the television Golf channel it knows a majority of viewers will be golfers and as such, interested in the Callaway line of products. This is an example of “direct targeting” as opposed to a Super Bowl commercial where the audience is certainly greater, but with huge divergence in interests. The Super Bowl commercials are the best example of “throw it on the wall and see what sticks.” Of these two advertising opportunities, I believe Callaway to be better off by directing its efforts to an audience it knows is interested–this is “laser targeting,” and it dosen’t cost $3million for a 30 second commercial.

Selling your personal information:
The search engines want to sell your search viewing habits and internet research topics with marketers for delivery of “Targeted Messages.” They evidently cannot generate enough revenue through their “targeted” search advertising business models. Many privacy pundits cringe at sour taste that monetizing web search statistics and viewer search habits leave in their mouths, but offer no reasonable solutions.

Government trying to get into policing technology should scare the entire Internet viewing community. While many members of Congress have the latest and fastest computers on their desks, their secretaries are the ones who have to read, and then print the emails for the member. There doesn’t seem to any politician that really knows how the Internet works.

On Thursday 2-23-2012 President Obama said, “American consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online.” A group of 36 state attorneys general sent a letter to Google on Wednesday with concerns about the search giant’s plans to begin sharing users’ personal information across Google products on March 1 without giving consumers an opt-in option.

In reference to “Do-not-track” buttons located in major Internet Browsers “It rings hollow to call their ability to exit the Google products ecosystem a ‘choice’ in an Internet economy where the clear majority of all Internet users use – and frequently rely on – at least one Google product on a regular basis,” the National Association of Attorneys General said in the letter.

Instead of forcing consumers to locate and activate the do-not-track feature (which can be ignored by advertisers) why not make the default Browser settings information-non-collectable, and a special button for “yes, do whatever you want with my personal information? In the event the search giants are able to deflect this reasonable and simple step as being too costly it should be mentioned Google reported revenues of $10.58 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. Or how about conducting your search business with a search engine who will NOT collect, sell or share your personal information with anyone? For those of you that thought “no such animal” exists, let me reasure you one does. Its name is www.duckduckgo.com

I have no relationship or stake in any fashion to DuckDuckGo.com

Common ways to navigate the Internet is by using search engines. Search engines have and use the ability to track each one of your searches. They can record your IP address, the search terms you used, the time of your search, and other information.  You should closely review your search engine’s privacy policy.

The U.S. Supreme Court largely has taken a hands-off approach to regulating the Internet and online privacy in favor of free speech.  However, the federal government is increasingly interested in regulating the Internet, i.e. child pornography and gambling laws.  Enforcement might be an important thing to keep in mind when relying on the law to protect you. When a U.S. law is broken in another country, prosecuting the criminal may prove difficult or impossible.

DuckDuckGo makes money in a couple of ways.  First, we have some minimal advertising on search results pages with providers that work within our privacy principles, i.e. no targeting or sharing IP addresses to serve ads.  The other way we make money is via affiliate sales, e.g. Amazon and eBay.  This affiliate model also doesn’t share personal information. ~~Duckduckgo.com

This years crop of Super Bowl commercials seemed much better than many past advertisements. Domain names and Hosting must be a very profitable business and one can never get enough of flying babies.

Long Island Advertising, a division of www.Newyork-Advertising.com announces the appointment of Max Strong to the position of CTO (Chief Marketing Technologist). “Max brings a computer science degree and a wealth of IT (Internet Technology) to our company,” stated managing partner, Richard Adams. “His intimate working knowledge of how the Internet works, as it relates to the digital marketing and advertising world, is quite profound and we look forward to very informative observations in his posts.”

Long Island Advertising is a premier provider of Internet Marketing, PR and Advertising solutions for businesses in and around Long Island, New York.

Contact: Richard Adams 720-209-5790