Sean Walther's Blog

Rant: Privacy, Tracking, and the Internet

I just got an email alert from WSJ.com saying:

The largest U.S. websites are installing new and intrusive consumer-tracking technologies on the computers of people visiting their sites—in some cases, more than 100 tracking tools at a time—a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

The tracking files represent the leading edge of a lightly regulated, emerging industry of data-gatherers who are in effect establishing a new business model for the Internet: one based on intensive surveillance of people to sell data about, and predictions of, their interests and activities, in real time.

This impacts me directly, as I frequently work on large e-Commerce sites and have seen first hand the use of tracking technology.

Tracking technology has been around for a long time.  Both on the internet and off.  When you walk into a store, a well trained sales rep should be watching you, gauging your interest, seeing what you look at, and overall deciding the best way to approach you for a sale.  This is not aggressive, this is their job.  This is what websites do.

On web sites we have a few problems.  eCommerce sites don’t have sales folk who can help you with your purchase.  They can’t see what you’re doing.

This is where “tracking” comes in.  This isn’t tracking to invade your privacy and publish your information.  This is the general internet trying to be better at selling you what you want.

Embrace it, as the consumer you should be winning.

As a man shopping online, I prefer to see ads for things I’m interested in.  How do sites know that?  By tracking you.  This is actually cool.

I’m not saying everything is acceptable, just that we’re going to be hearing from politicians who want to jump on the “internet is bad” bandwagon, when they fail to see the purpose of these technologies.  To better serve the end consumer.

In the article I just read, there is a quote from Sen. George LeMieux, R-Florida:

If “you were in the Gap, and the sales associate said to you, ‘OK, from now on, since you shopped here today, we are going to follow you around the mall and view your consumer transactions,’ no person would ever agree to that,”

Come on, it’s different.  I’d prefer not to see ads for women’s clothing when I walked into a store, I want to see the men’s clothing.  I’d love it if a store would rearrange itself, because it knows I’m looking for bookshelves today.  This is what the internet does, shares information.  I have NEVER seen tracking information used for any purpose other than to help deliver better options to the end user.

Tracking is such a bad word, how about optimizing.

Tags: ecommerce, George LeMieux, privacy, track, tracking, wsj

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