NebuAddendum

Well, while I was on vacation Embarq replied to Congress’s request for information about the test they conducted with NebuAd, the ISP targeting ad network that has lately felt Congressional heat on its little piggies.

Tom Gerke, the President and CEO of Embarq, signed the response, which answered nine committee questions clearly and succinctly. The full text of Embarq’s response to Congressman Markey and his committee appears on this page of Broadcast and Cable.

Here are some highlights to that response:

NOTIFICATION

How were subscribers notified?: As I expected, the notification was in the privacy policy, and the rationale for that was that that is how ad networks do it.

Why not Opt-In: Because the industry does it opt-out. Which if I may editorialize for jut a mo’, doesn’t actually answer the question. But then we ALL know the answer.

WHAT IS ROBUST

The big news – or perhaps the sound bite – of the disclosure memo was that 15 people availed themselves of the opportunity to opt out of tracking, which was announced in the privacy policy.

15 out of 26,000 represents .06%, rather a low percentage. I say rather low because, according to a recent eMarketer report, the percentage of people who dislike the concept of BT is rather high. Specifically, 45% of consumers, according to a recent Harris Poll, were uncomfortable with BT-style tracking. .06%/45% leads to the mathematical conclusion that only about 1% of the people who are concerned about BT opted out. A bit of a googly for anyone who thinks that privacy policy notification meets the spirit of the FTC’s robust notice requirement. I’m not saying 99% couldn’t find it. I am just saying…

RAMIFICATIONS

Meanwhile, it appears that Embarq has suffered little for their NebuAd test – according to this article from the Kansas City Business Journal, their stock price is faring nicely despite the unwanted publicity.

It’ll be interesting if the ISPs get to skate through this controversy unscathed.