User Tracking in the News

User tracking on web sites appears to be a growing concern amongst the public. The current What They Know campaign by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is making marketers techniques more widely known.

The mis-use of web cookies has received significant press coverage in the past, and now the mis-use of beacons (also known as web bugs) and Flash cookies (also known as Local Shared Objects or LSO cookies) is attracting attention. The WSJ examined popular sites and reported their findings online.

The value of personal data can be calculated in more than one way, is being debated and used for data protection business cases—marketers already know its value to them.

Marketers should be concerned that their own data collection and usage practices comply with legal and other requirements, and that these are described clearly to users in a comprehensible privacy notice. But if you have third-party content included within your pages, you also need to address those organisation's usage of the data they collect from your visitors. Third-party code may not just be from advertisers, but includes users analytics, embedded data feeds, video, photos and JavaScript libraries hosted elsewhere. For behavioural advertising purposes, check out the guidance from the IAB-UK.

Where possible try to ensure your web site's core functionality and design are unaffected if users choose not to accept content from other domains whilst viewing your pages.

Oh, and check your own site out with the Privacy Choice tool and ensure it is correct. Despite the name "privacy scan", it doesn't of course cover all the privacy aspects you need to take into account!