-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 One of the main assertions made by both sides in the privacy battles is people must be informed when a third party is gathering "personal" information about them. But what constitutes personally identifiable information, anyway? Where do "real" privacy concerns begin? Below is a story I wrote about Imgis Inc. - a little-noticed company whose cookies are among the most common on the Net. If you don't them now, look in your cookie file. Chances are you'll find several marked "imgis.com." Imgis thought it knew what the privacy concerns were with its technology. Others thought otherwise. Within two days of hearing about impending opposition, the company apparently changed its views. Note that the technology described is not yet in use. from http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/inwo/0919/inwo0006.html Ad tracking technology sparks new privacy war By Will Rodger September 19, 1997 11:42 AM PDT Inter@ctive Week Online An effort supported by two of the world's largest advertising brokers to tailor advertising to individual Internet users may pose the greatest threat yet to the protection of privacy in cyberspace, activists said. Under a system due for rollout in the first half of 1998, the Web advertising service Imgis Inc. will begin comparing detailed demographic information about Internet users to its stock of Web- ready ads, sending Net users only those ads Imgis determines are best matched to their interests. The company, based in Los Angeles, will use a system of "match codes" to identify individual users. Match codes are unique identifiers used to pick information about consumers out of databases, much as banks use Social Security numbers to identify customers. Under the plan, when Internet users visit Web sites carrying Imgis ads, participating Internet service operators would send Imgis a match code corresponding to a demographic database of 140 million consumers maintained by database marketer Metromail Corp. Imgis would then compare users' names, addresses, estimated incomes and automobile ownership against an inventory of advertisements. Thus, a white, single 25-year-old man living in Dubuque, Iowa, could see an ad that differs from that seen by a 65-year-old American Indian woman living in Manhattan. Yet, at the same time, the system has the ability to track the movements of any Internet user across participating sites, potentially revealing a dizzying array of confidential information, including users' reading habits, health concerns, political inclinations and religious affiliations. Imgis executives insist they won't do so, but the danger remains, critics said. Shelley Pasnik, an analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Media Education, slammed the proposal. "This is huge. This is the most detailed proposal I've seen and probably the most significant threat to privacy I've heard of," she said. "This is a really big deal; this is a real step back," added Tara Lemmey, chief executive officer of Narrowline Inc., a San Francisco- based Internet advertising firm and a member of the TRUSTe privacy consortium. "This is a case where it's really important to step back and say we've really crossed the line." Imgis, which specializes in Internet advertising, will place ads sold by Petry Media Corp. and Katz Media Group Inc. Exposure of the plan follows four days of hearings on cyberspace privacy at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission last June. Though direct marketers were often on the defensive over their use of surreptitious techniques in gathering consumer information in cyberspace, the FTC tentatively concluded that the industry should police itself before the government takes action to protect privacy on the Internet. But the Imgis case "accentuates all the concerns we've been talking about," said David Medine, associate director of credit practices at the FTC and moderator of most of the sessions. "Up until today, I think that users naturally assumed that users were anonymous through their Internet service providers when they surfed the Web. I don't think that you can say that anymore. If that has changed, it represents a dramatic shift in the relationship between the user and the Internet." Medine said the FTC would expect Imgis to disclose all aspects of its data gathering through participating Web sites and ISPs if it begins using match codes to tailor ad delivery. In an interview Tuesday, Imgis Chief Executive Officer Chuck Berger told Inter@ctive Week that his company had signed two Internet service providers, GTE Corp. and Netcom On-Line Communication Services Inc., to carry the service sometime in the first half of 1998. At the time, Berger said he believed there were no privacy concerns with "anonymous match codes," since Imgis had decided not to record which sites users visit. "Once we pull your ad out of our database, we're done," Berger said. "We're not following you around the Web." Imgis abruptly altered its story Thursday after Inter@ctive Week found that privacy advocates were up in arms over the technology. Marisa Verson, a principal with San Francisco public relations firm Interactive Communications Inc., which represents Imgis, said Imgis never had agreements with GTE or Netcom. "GTE is nothing," she said. "If Chuck communicated that, I don't know how he even thinks that. This thing isn't even in the speculative stage until the privacy thing is down." GTE spokesman Bill Kula confirmed Thursday morning that "we do use Imgis - or plan to - related to using actual public billing files." But "there's not a contract between the two companies today." Netcom officials said they spoke with Imgis more than a year ago about the match code proposal but had discarded the idea over privacy concerns. "I have absolutely zero plans to be involved with this," said Netcom advertising director Terry Pittman. "Whatever we do needs to be in synch with some rules of the road so that people know what we do with their information." Imgis officials, stung by criticism of their plan, said they are moving swiftly. Though Berger earlier described Netizens who worry about their privacy online as a "vocal minority," Imgis marketing director David Kopp said the company is moving to develop some way of disclosing how it gathers information online and what it does with it. "We'll come up with a policy that makes sense," Kopp said. "These issues are very big issues. The main reason we haven't pursued the product is we're not entirely confident we have a set of standards that would work. Without informed consent you can't do this sort of thing." Kopp said the company would soon contact TRUSTe for guidance. TRUSTe Chairman Lori Fena said she hoped to hear from Kopp soon. "We mandate full disclosure," she said. "We expect full disclosure at all the Web sites, so this would no longer be a back-door deal." The FTC's Medine agreed. "It's going to take enough firms getting beat up in the press to make people realize they have to think about this first - before they develop the technology," he said. Imgis can be reached at www.imgis.com The FTC can be reached at www.ftc.gov -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQA/AwUBNCQghdZgKT/Hvj9iEQLu5ACfSVkRIbX8iYE7EgKnwV2FIZK82fUAoIBl 2TyMisA624IB1nWUwhI3qx54 =08lI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----