FCC Head Kevin Martin Recommends Action Against Comcast

You've all heard the story a bajillion times -- that Comcast was secretly slowing the traffic of people who were using file sharing networks. These networks, which, in addition to many legal activities, are also used to download music and other media illegally, are big consumers of bandwidth.

Comcast's action was plainly designed to reduce the amount of bandwidth these users consumed. Problem is, they sold the service as unlimited access, and reducing bandwidth for certain activities is a violation of the principle of net neutrality.

This Huffington Post article on the FCC action highlights the central role that Robb Topolski played in this win. Topolski, who has more recently published a report about ISP targeting firm NebuAd, was the man who discovered Comcast's secret slowing activity.

His proof of this activity quickly spread throughout the web and was one of the early rallying points for broader consumer interest in net neutrality, a concept that confuses many consumers.

Mr. Topolski first discovered Comcast's activity when he was sharing legal music files from his own barbershop quartet. His report begat other reports, and today strong government action.

Here's some of his testimony to the FCC on this topic.

Expect DC to get pretty noisy over this.

And let it serve all of us in marketing and tech as a lesson. Beyond the many many obvious advantages of always telling the truth and being transparent, there's another reason not to do things like this in secret: truth always outs online.

I am sure Robb is feeling mighty good tonight. In the words of HuffPost: "...it all started with one person." What particularly tickles me is that barbershop music has led to profound government action in the technology sector. The Buffalo Bills would be proud. ;-)

I pride myself on my scrounging abilities online. But try as I might I could not find any Funchords music to place here so you could hear what started it all. But I did find this silly Family Guy barbershop song (It's off color. For those who prefer to avoid such things, just bypass that play button.) Otherwise, enjoy.



Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Find the Threads of Bigger eStore Sales

Remember when Amazon's collaborative filtering seemed the be all and end all of retailing? Well, it's still amazing, and has sold me more books than I care to mention, but a company called Strands can provide a similar service quickly and easily to any retailer site.

Strands combines user recommendations, user and retailer tags, and click stream info to instantly provide recommendations to users as they surf the site. It's a way to get your entire catalog of items showcased to people who may be interested in products beyond those that they find on their own.



I think the value of this for many retailers can be enormous. First, because the recommendations of people are the single most important piece of information prospects have to help drive their decisions. Second, because many people are LOOKING for additional ideas and suggestions. And finally, this blend of touchpoints can provide a powerful platform to drive such recommendations.



There are a number of providers of such services but I like the turnkey approach they offer.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Chihuahua Guevara?

Triumph In The PopUp/Under Arms Race?

According to AdRelevance, the PopUp/Under is all but dead. Halllujah. Is it possible that an arms race (blockers v. new serving methodologies) has finally ended?



You've heard of V-E Day, and V-J Day. This is V-PU Day.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Video Streams Up 27% Between January and April? Lordy!

Forgive me as I don't remember which newsletter I got this from, but according to data from Nielsen Online VideoCensus the number of US Home and Work streams per month increased from 5.987B to 7.613B between January and April. That is growth of 27% in just 4 months.

I'm guessing poltiics is a big driver. And the NBA. But Wow!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Divine Caroline, 10 Ridiculous Diets, and a Classy Group of Broads (and Fellas)

Divine Caroline continues to amaze and tickle me despite the fact that I am not a W18-49. This piece on the top ten most ridiculous diets is an example of their reporting and wit.

The piece gives the rundown on:

Dr. Siegel's Cookie Diet.
The Subway(tm) Diet
The Cereal Diet
The Cabbage Soup Diet
The Slim Fast Diet
The Blood Type Diet
The Russian Air Force Diet
The Hot Dog Diet
The Apple Cider Diet
The Write Yourself Right Sized Diet
The Atkins Diet

I myself am on Atkins at the moment, and while the author felt icky on it, I just cooked up a lovely New York strip and a big mess of broccoli so I feel icky antithetical.

But seriously, this post is about Divine Caroline. It's one of the first sites I wrote about on this blog, and I continue to believe it is the sleeper of the web.

As with every site that doesn't have $30MM to piss away in month one, traffic was a little slow to build in the first couple of months, but has improved quite nicely since.

At the beginning when I heard from a friend that works there that traffic growth was desired I suggested a complete shift to 96 point Blippo Bold headlines about:

Pock Attack: Celebs with Cellulite!
Outfits from Hell (They Should have STAYED in Hell!)
Help! My Husband Watches Online Porn

My friend, who shall remain nameless but is rumored to eat microwaved sweet potatoes every day at her desk, knew better than to follow me in a descent into National Examiner land. And the result is that 18 months in they've got high quality eyeballs, what must be an incredible composition of influencers, and arguably the most beautifully designed site online.

This amazing members of this social community write good, tight, interesting, thought provoking stuff. They also have a really witty sense of art direction.
Witness:



They snag advertisers that want women, influencers, and an environment of dignity.

One of the best kept secrets of this community is their partner list that goes on and on and on and...

2inSync
7x7 Magazine
10% Solution
Act Locally SF
Alexandra Levit
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
American Lung Association of New York
Angela Shelton
Ariel Meadow Stallings
Artista Creative Safaris
Arts Engine
Ask Patty
Audacity Magazine
Babygadget
Barefoot & Pregnant
Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative (BAWSI)
Been There Ate That
Better World Books
BettyConfidential
Beyondmedia
Bill Russell
The BizWorld Foundation
Blog Talk Radio
Books for Boys
BrandHabit
BrightHorizons
Budget Fashionista
Builders Rx
Caille Millner
Canteen Magazine
CARE
Carolina Breast Friends
CarTangoCelebrating Mothers
Center for Business Women's Research
Chez Pim
Christian Carter
CODEPINK Women for Peace
Common Sense Media Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Connecting Moms
Connie Glaser Women Leadership Expert
Conscious Living TV
Courtney Cochran of Hip Tastes Events
Craigslist Foundation
Creative Juice Arts
Creative Visions DAMEDamsels in Success
Dana RocDawn Dias
DearSugar
Dell Larcen
dLife
Don Mills Diva
Donors Choose
Don’t Date Him Girl
Dr. MelinaEliminate Chaos
EcoBrain</a>Elle Newmark </a>
Empty Nest Support Services
E/The Environmental Magazine
Eve Tahmincioglu</a>
Exquisite Safaris
Family Matters Radio
FatFighterTV</a>
Fashion Fit Formula
FatManUnleashed</a>
Fearlessness, Inc.
Femme Fan
The Femme Network
Fempire</a>Fertility Tomorrow
The FindFirst Resort
Flavors of Rome
Forte Foundation
Frequently Wrong But Never In Doubt
Full Circle Fund
Gen Art Pulse Get the PointGirls on the Run
GirlSource</a>
Girls With Dreams
Glimpse.com
Global Chefs
Global Opportunity for Women Campaign
Dr. Robert GreeneGuideposts
Here Comes The Guide
Her Sports and Fitness
Hidden Villa Ideal Bite
idealist.org
iFood.tv</a>
International Justice Mission
Invincibelle</a>
Jamie Reeves, Blonde Mom Blog
Jane Straus</a>
Jeanette Bronee, Path for Life
Jennifer's JourneyKarletta Moniz</a>
Karn Knutson</a>
Karol Ward
Kate Jacobs
The Keep A Breast Foundation
LadiesWhoLaunch</a>
Las Olas Surf Safaris
Let's Knit2gether</a>
Linx Dating
Lisa Osborne, Lisa.fm</a>
Litlife</a>
Los Angelista</a>LUNAFEST</a>
MakeupGourmet</a>
ManicMommies</a>
Marcia Wieder</a>me* Magazine
Michelle Goodman
Miss O & Friends
Media Village
Michelle Moss
The Modern Mom’s Guide to Dads
ModernMums
Mom Advice
MomCorps
Mom Inventors
Momference
MommaSaid
Mommy Track'd
Moms in Business Network
Mothers Acting Up
Mrs. Fussypants
Ms. Foundation for Women
MyPrivateCoach
National Association of Women Business Owners
National Brain Tumor Foundation
NaturallyCurlyNerd's Eye View
The Next Right Thing
New Progressive Coalition
Nina Kaufman
Nobel Women's Initiative (NWI)
Not Just the Kitchen
ODC and the Rhythm & Motion Dance Program
OffsprungONE
ParentingTeensOnline
Pax Programs
Peace X Peace
Pink Collar Club
Pink Lemonade
Pink Magazine
Planned Parenthood
Popgadget
Pow.Wow
Presidio School of Management
Pretty Sharp
Project Peace for All
Qlu
Rasa Malaysia
Rebuilding Alliance
Refugees International
The Rookie Mom’s Handbook
Lori Harfenist, The Resident
Safety Chick
SandyOvarian San Francisco Women's Film Festival
SATORI
Sex with Emily
ShamelesslySassy
SheSez
Shoetube.tv
SHOWTIME
Skeptic Yogi
SkinnySongs
Social Diva
SomaGirls.tv
Spark
Sparkplugging
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Stephanie Klein
Stephanie Quilao
StyleBakery
The Stylephile
Suburban Turmoil
Success in the City
Sunny Chayes
Susan G. Komen Foundation, San Francisco
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
SustainLane
Tango Diva
TeachersCount
Ten Thousand Villages
Text in the City
The Social Cause Diet
The Well Mom
Total Candor
Travel Betty
Travelgirl Magazine
TripTouch
True Mom Confessions
Truth in Hand
Tug McGraw Foundation
Two Angry Moms
Uncorked Events
University Chic Media
Valérie Orsoni
Variety
Viator
Vince Thompson
Wenzel Coaching
What Is Enlightenment Magazine
Whit Honea
White House Project
WICinema
Women 2.0
WomenBloom
WomenCo.
Womenable
Women & Wine
Women Build Habitat for Humanity
Women’s Earning Institute
The Women’s Foundation of California
Women’s Initiative Network
The Women’s Mosaic
Women President’s Organization
WomanSavers
Women’s Sports Foundation W.O.M.E.N—Women on Maintaining Education and Nutrition
Women Thrive Worldwide
Working Mother Magazine
The World Affairs Councel of Northern Califorina
WorldBlu
World of Good
World Pulse
wowOwow
Writing Mamas Salon
Young and Healthy of Pasadena
YourOnRamp
Young Women Social Entrepreneurs
ZOOMA Women’s Race Series

What a nice blend of major media, charities, activist groups, and bloggers. I am not exactly sure what the total monetization story is to harness this unique kind of partner power. Of course ad network comes to mind, and that may well be it. I don't know their plans. But there are 126 other directions they could go as well.

Anyway, cheers to DC, and the classy broads (and fellas) that make it better every day.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

TSA Shock Bracelets: The Madness of King George

According to a variety of mainstream media sources, the TSA is contemplating mandatory shock bracelets for passengers. Equipped with GPS, they will enable the government to follow your every move before during and just after a flight. And they will also be equipped with a taser -- which can be activated by a crew member to shock you until you are paralyzed (temporarily.)

Apparently the controversy was started a Washington Times story. The WT is a major DC newspaper much beloved in conservative circles. So you can't call me a bleeding heart for bringing this up.

The company developing the product, Lamperd Less Lethal (no I did not make that up, the company's slogan is "Keeping the situation under control.") features a vid on their web site talking about how most consumers are sure to love this magical idea. This is an excerpt taken from the YouTubes.



An open sentence to current partners, coworkers, clients, prospects and future prospects:

The day I am required by law to strap on a GPS taser to gain permission to be crammed into a filthy, crowded tin can to be hurtled across the country at 500 miles an hour is the day I will NEVER fly again.

How absurd is this? I may now have a device strapped to me that, at the discretion of a flight attendant (no disrespect to flight attendants -- but it is not as if you get Secret Service training) can be made to shock me until I am paralyzed.

Meanwhile, millions of 10x10x40 foot containers stream into the US uninspected. But opening the lids on those would hurt profits of a certain big box retailer that I'll refrain from naming here. Much better just to shock airline passengers that grumble because their kneecaps are fracturing their ribs.

I guess this is the ultimate form of police power privatization. Torture with my peanuts indeed. Oh wait, torture with my...nothing.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write to the TSA to tell them how ridiculous you think this is.

White Paper Thursdays: Hot Off The Grill: SEM Benchmarking Guide

The fine people at the Sherpa have made an exec summary powerpoint available about SEM benchmarks here. Grab it while you can, people!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

White Paper Thursdays Blogging Styles and How to Use Them

From Ogilvy,a nice simple deck about how companies and indeed individuals can create a sort of editorial calendar to improve interest and readership of their blogs byt adopting certain blogging styles within a given calendar week. Really interesting. And a lot of truth in it, I think.

| View | Upload your own

White Paper Thursdays Mobile 2.0

A stellar deck on Mobile 2.0 by Rudy De Waele at Dotopen is available here:

| View | Upload your own

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

White Paper Thursdays: 1/3 Are DVD Thieves

A fascinating white paper on DVD and video entertainment piracy is now available from Futuresource Consulting.



Download this baby here.

The report says that roughly a third of US consumers have duped a DVD in the past six months.



Brits are slightly more theft prone, as you can see.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

White Paper Thursdays: Research Insights from the Sherpa

Marketing Sherpa is offering a free free free PowerPoint of data on business technology -- email open rates trends, purchase influence data, open pricing, DM success factors, and a buncha other stuff.

Written by Stefan Tornquist, Research Director at Marketing Sherpa. Definitely worth your time. Get it here.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

White Paper Thursdays: Google Open Social

A great little succinct 7 slide intro to Google Open Social. From Aakash Bapna. Great for getting the gist.

| View | Upload your own

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Imperfect Synopsis (Not a Transcript): Senate Commerce Hearing on Privacy Implications of Online Advertising

Yesterday the US Senate Commerce Committee held a 1.75 hour hearing on privacy and online advertising. There to testify were NebuAd, MSFT, Google, FaceBook, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Competitive Enterprise Institute.

I wasn't there, of course, but did watch the entire webcast (twice -- I know, what a policy wonk I am,) and am going to both report on the happenings and give interpretations based upon those viewings.

Hey, I am not a reporter, but I am going to do my best to report rather than editorialize.

By no means is this a transcript. Rather, I am trying to summarize the gist because I don't think many people will watch the vid or read a transcript and because hearings like this are absolutely critical to the future of the industry and the shape it will take.

-----

Broadly, the purpose of the hearing was to determine whether more government oversight and regulation is required to protect consumer privacy. ISPs were invited to attend, but decided not to. Apparently there will be a future hearing of ISPs only.

Lydia Parnes, Director of the Bureau for Consumer Protection of the FTC, began the hearing with a prepared statement that noted that they have been examining BT for a long time and with particular concern over PII, health, and financial information.

FTC Lydia Parnes reviewed the FTC's past Town Hall on BT and privacy, and the three key findings:

1. BT may provide value to consumers.
2. BT raises privacy concerns and concerns about
3. Everyone believes in transparency and some level of consumer control.

Based upon the Town Hall and their past research, the FTC has four key beliefs about BT and how it should be conducted.

1. Companies that collect info should disclose the practice and let people choose. Note: the FTC has, in the past and currently, has found either opt-in or opt-out as acceptable for "non-sensitive, non PII info.
2. Companies must provide reasonable security and retain data only as long as necessary.
3. If companies want to use data in a way other than disclosed in 1., they must get consumer permission to do so (opt-in.)
4. Sensitive data (e.g., health) should only be collected on an opt-in basis.

FTC says it is "cautiously optimistic" about the ability for self regulation to do the job of offering consumer protection.

From there, they went to Jane Horvath, the Senior Privacy Counsel for Google.

Ms. Horvath said that Google always puts their users first. That users can with one click switch providers if they are dissatisfied with Google's privacy policies, so they must put their users first to protect consumer loyalty.

She then reviewed the economic and consumer value of BT.

She continued to say that three privacy design fundamentals drive everything at Google:

1. Transparency: She said they are very active in educating consumers about their privacy via the Google Privacy Channel on YouTube, among other means.
2. Choice: She said consumers have the option of what data is made available. She pointed to the off the record feature on GoogleTalk as an example.
3. Security: She also said they have incredibly intense security for data at Google.

She also said that Google targeting is primarily context- versus behavior-based.

They recommended the following:

1. Google supports establishing a comprehensive Federal privacy law with uniform standards and penalties.
2. Google supports FTC's efforts at developing principles/standards with industry.
3. Display ads should be better labeled.

Then she showed a video that explains how to remove cookies from a browser. The video is from their privacy YouTube channel. It was an example of their proactive approach to education.

Bob Dykes, CEO of NebuAd, was next. He outlined his own security background. He then reviewed their standards that he said ensure that no one can derive PII from their system.

He said that consumers significantly benefit from more relevant ads while they get robust privacy protections. BT also provides economic value to small web sites and ISPs.

He stressed anonymity and how important it is to their system.

The outline of his privacy foundation principles was as follows:

1. Prior robust notice about the service.
2. Time to choose whether to opt out and ongoing opps to opt out.
3. No PII.
4. Do not store raw data linked to identifiable individuals.
5. High data security.

He then said that those who claimed that they do not require robust notice or an opportunity to opt out are wrong. That those are central to their model. He also said that those who claim that they traffic everything are incorrect.

He further stated that they do not track:

1. Webmail
2. Email
3. IM
4. VOIP traffic
5. Info about password Protected Sites

as well as some other web traffic.

He said that their standards have been vetted by the Panama Institute and that they are engaging with a Big Four accounting firm to audit the veracity of their statements.

He then said that NebuAd supports the past privacy paradigm promulgated by the Committee.

Next up was Leslie Harris, President and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

She began by stating that their POV/argument centered on three points and several recommendations.

1. BT is growing and consumers are uncomfortable with it and don't have the tools to control their info. Aggregation on non PII can result in reverse engineering PII. There is a lack of transparency and meaningful controls. She said 59% of people are not comfortable with BT according to a recent poll.
2. ISP targeting adds consumer and legal concerns. That an ISP MAY give access to info on everything one does online to a third party. That consumers do not want traffic intercepted by an ISP and given to a third party. They also believe that the law requires prior opt in versus opt out. ISP targeting has not done this.
3. Self regulation is not enough. NAI is a failure. And only now that the FTC and the Senate have demonstrated concern has the NAI responded with modest improvements. Additional legislation is required.

She then made the following recommendations.

1. More hearings necessary on ISP targeting and sensitive info.
2. Need privacy legislation.
3. FTC needs to issue enforceable guidelines.
4. Do not track list should be offered.

Chris Kelly, CPO of FaceBook was next. He said that privacy is a foundation of the network. Specifically:

1. Consumers have the power of choice in who they share with and what communities they join and what info they share.
2. They are transparent in how they use info to serve relevant ads.

Specifically:

1. He said FaceBook is very focused on letting consumers choose. That default settings are high on the privacy meter. You choose what info to include and not include in profiles, and with whom you share your info.
2. You should have access to info others want to share.

He said controls are built into every aspect of FaceBook. That they offer easy to use tools to control personal info. They've created a lock icon to indicate that users can control info disclosure.

He also stated that ad targeting on FB is non-PII. That they make that clear in their policies and communicate the idea that targeting has value to consumers.

Next up was Clyde Wayne Cruz, Jr., VP Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He began by saying privacy will become a bigger issue in the future because of incredible new technologies on the horizon.

He said that it's very difficult to legislate privacy online because consumers have different wants and needs and because the environment is extremely complex and constantly changing.

He posited that firms alter info handling without law, so law is unnecessary. That consumers, and especially online, get to choose, and that that is a better force for regulation.

He said a lot more here about cyber crime and a variety of other issues but I am going to focus on the BT relevant stuff.

Finally, Mike Hintze, Associate General Counsel at Microsoft went. He reiterated the value of advertising online and how targeting was important to paying for the web and in tailoring online experiences.

He said that MSFT cares deeply about privacy. That they have done more than anyone else in the industry on this score. That they have a robust set of internal standards to govern privacy.

Last July, they issued MSFT standards revolving around:

1. Transparency - Clear link to privacy on every page of their sites and with simple and precise policies.
2. Control - Consumers can opt out and tie the opt out to the Live online account so that databases are not rebuilt as with cookie deletion.
3. Choice - MSFT uses anonymized identifier to disconnect PII from actions.

He said they recommend a federal privacy law and self regulation. They also work hard to educate consumers.

From here the hearing went to questions. I don't know the senators by sight and the super on the webcast obscured their name tags, so I am going to focus on the questions rather than the askers.

AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A TRANSCRIPT! I AM TRYING TO DO A DETAILED SUMMARY BUT THESE ARE MY INTERPRETATIONS OF WHAT THEY SAID, NOT WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SAID!

First question to NebuAd: What is the difference between NebuAd and wiretapping?

Dykes: I am not a lawyer, but NebuAd has a legal memo they will share attesting to their view that they are well within the law. The info collected is non PII. That all info is collected using anonymous identifiers and the data are relevant only inasmuch as they classify people into target groups, that page level data is not stored nor can they connect PII to the data using their system.

Question: This wouldn't be operable as an opt-in model, right?

Harris: Our wiretap laws don't require the collection of PII to be enforced. Also, while they may not be using all the info, they are collecting all the info.

Dykes: Only certain info is used and that is not stored. Only the category that someone falls into is stored. The rest is ignored and also not stored. And consumers can opt out, are offered robust notice, and they do opt out.

Question to FaceBook: Do 3rd party app providers have access to all info in user profiles?

Kelly: A user must actively add the app and acknowledge that they are collecting info. Then the app maker can request data but will only receive the data that the user has consented to share on FB. Then the app maker can only retain the info for 24 hours. If they violate this the app can be shut down.

Question: What is the best estimate of the degree of use of this info abusively -- beyond BT?

Harris: No one knows and there are no rules in place to control it. NAI members have made a commitment, but lots of companies are not in the NAI.

Dykes: As a result of abuses with AOL Search data in 2004 - when it became clear than non-PII data could be reconstructed into PII if associated with individuals, however anonymized, NebuAd wanted to avoid the risk. Their approach of bucketizing users into segments mitigates the risk. The bucket is stored, not all the data that put someone in the bucket. They resolved never to keep raw data that had the potential to create abuse. They don't have it or keep it. No data is connected to PII, only to anonymoized info.

Question: Would ensuring that all of this collection of data is made anonymous solve the problem of potential abuse?

Harris: You can't entirely mitigate the risk. When AOL made search data available, it took very little time to construct PII from it.

Dykes: In the case of AOL. certain kinds of info made it possible to interpolate PII like specific real estate searches that made it possible to identify people. But NebuAd stores the segments, not the specific data.

Harris: But profiling poses that risk. That profiles COULD include that. That for example if you search for your name you are essentially revealing PII.

Dykes: Which is why they don't store info like that. It is irrelevant to the model.

Question: Is true anonymity possible?

Dykes: I believe so.

Question: Is any legitimate benefit to consumers sacrificed by true anonymity.

Dykes: We chose not to collect PII.

Cruz: You're always taking a little risk online. The Internet is not a secure environment. Also, we're not going to WANT pure anonymity. Crime is always possible on an open network like the web. No guarantees possible online. We can try our best but there will always be risk.

Question: What would Federal law or principles entail?

Harris: We don't need a BT law, we need a privacy law. It's bigger than BT. There should be rules about transparency, time limits, opt out or opt in based upon the sensitivity. It's a complicated topic but technology shouldn't govern the basic principles of privacy. We don't want a law that freezes tech development. It's all a matter of balance.

Hintze: We need a national privacy law. We need to harmonize all the federal and state laws. Consuemrs need a common baseline protection.

Dykes: The law needs to focus on privacy. But it must also be careful not to stifle competition.

Harris: Companies stand in different positions to the consumer and we need to take that into account.

Question: Is there a way to approach this where we would govern the type of Internet connection used instead of the content?

Harris: Our laws are outdated. The potential risks are there, and the info would also be available to the government. That is a key danger. For example, email privacy has very little legal protection.

Question: Do you believe consumers are entitled to opt-in?

Harris: It depends on data and context. ISP yes because it is the center connection. It's complicated. PII and non PII are starting to merge. The risk is that an anonymous ID can be connected to PII. We need a baseline privacy bill.

Question: Has the FTC studied security -- storage and encryption?

Parnes: Data security is part of our principles as is the idea that data is stored only as long as necessary.

Question: Do you know everything I do online if I use your site, Google and MSFT?

Horvath: If you're signed in on Google, we know your searches, but not what you did off our site. It's only connected to IP addresses.

Question: How long do you keep records?

Horvath: 18 months.
Hintze: 18 months.

Question: If NebuAd comes to you and asks for a contract -- give us everything you have -- would you consider it?

Hintze: We aren't sharing that info with anyone.
Dykes: We don't want such data. We only use data to put people into innocuous categories.

Question: Does competition between sites protect consumers? Are sites competing or going to compete with privacy standards?

Harris: No There is not enough consumer understanding. Also, companies store the data for too long and anonymization is not as simple as it sounds.

Dykes: Not sure Harris understands what NebuAd actually does. Would like to calrify after the hearing with her.

Question: Summarize your points.

Harris: There are great benefits from advertising but companies are collecting more, increasingly personal info. Self regulation is good but not enough. We need a baseline privacy law.

Kelly: We are at the forefront. We only know what people decide to share. And if companies want to target using that info, advertiser does not get PII.

Dykes: We welcome regulation about privacy. Focus on the sensitivity of the type of info. Strong controls are necessary but room should be left for innovation. Self regulation will also be important.

Cruz: We need to worry about criminals - self regulation doesn't help us there. But law can stifle. We need to let the market evolve. We don't want to impede that.

Hintze: Must protect consumer privacy. If we don't we will undermine the business model. Microsoft leads but we are a small player in online advertising. We need legislation plus self regulation.

Parnes: We need baseline privacy legislation to give consumers assurance, plus we believe in self regulation.

-----

Well, there is my non transcript. If it had value for you I am happy. If you disagree with the interpretation of my summary anywhere, please say so and I will note your disagreement in the post. I did my best to get the gist.

I'm going to give my impressions of the info and its import this weekend in another post. Until then...

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Kindle Hackers

I was one of the first people to order a Kindle -- well, one of the first-ish. It was very logical for a person like me that reads several books a week. Overall I've liked the device as a portable library holder -- it will NOT replace books for me but it has been invaluable in my frequent travels. It's just that the paper book is just so darned good as a reading format!

Hermits who don't know about the device should know it's Amazon's book reader, which comes with lifetime wireless access as part of the package. And it's this bit that we'll be tangentially talking about here.

Kindle has fans and foes, and of course the requisite online parodies. (This is a bit off color, that's your warning.



Recently I was on a walk with my dear friend Susan MacDermid, who informed me that there is a subculture of Kindle Hackers who are making the device do and be more than Amazon intended. With free wireless it is only natural that many have tried to make it into a minicomputer. Also, apparently GPS capabilities can be unlocked. and the DRM that makes it take only books bought on the 'zon? Apparently it ain't hard to subvert, though any task that requires soldering is probably beyond my scope.

Well, I found this page that tells you some of the things that Kindle can be made to do. Read it if you have a Kindle and even if you don't as it tells you a lot about the minds of the people who have in their DNA the desire to tinker. I love that inventive spirit, and Igor Kochinsky clearly has it in spades hearts clubs and diamonds.

If Igor et al can find a way to do PowerPoint on it I will dance a jig.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

I've Heard of a Tin Ear But...TinEye?

TinEye is an image search engine in private beta. I applied to be let in, and will report more when I get let in. But watch the vid.



Simply astounding. I am not exactly sure of all the business uses of this, but piracy comes to mind, as does my never ending search to find shocking somewhat related photos for my blog post to make you RSS users give me a click. ;-)

As for the piracy thing, it's a good thing I pay for my photos on this blog, or find them so often reproduced across the web I expect they are public domain.

So far they've indexed over a half billion pics online, with billions and billions to come.

TinEye is from Idee Inc.

Stop the Effin Surveys!

We need a way to cap the number of survey requests web viewers see. I visit 36 sites in about 15 minutes every day - news, trades, blog. Today I have been asked 23 times to complete a survey. It's almost always at least 6. That is absolutely ridiculous. What's more, about 15 of the surveys were from the same research supplier.

Apparently "My Opinion Counts," but not my web browsing experience.

With this kind of volume of requests, the only people filling out surveys must be the terribly bored or the insane. Not sure that's who we are all targeting...

Email by James Bond

I first read about Privnote last week on ReadWriteWeb. This service allows you to send messages that self destruct after the link to the message has been clicked and the message has been read.

Ah, self destruction: it reminds me of the old Mission:Impossible series when the reel to reel tape player (this was before cassettes, my young readers,) burst into flames upon playing the details of the latest seemingly insurmountable challenge.

OK, so it's not actually an email that bursts into Flash-animated flames after reading. Though I think I remember something like that just before the dot bomb. Rather, your message is stored in a safe environment and the link to it no longer connects to anything after the first play -- after it is clicked once.






Privnote is a project of Insophia, a Uruguayan technology firm focused on Python and Unix/open source development.

My first reaction to this was...is there a need? I am a person that reads and stores EVERYTHING I get via email. So I talked to a contrarian friend who told me that there is a great need for this service in that there are times when you want to communicate with just one person, without fear of that info being passed on. That there are a lot of decisions and discussions that truly need to be 100% private. I will definitely accept that. And then I realized how I had gotten around the email storage issue indirectly. I never communicate privileged conversations and decisions by email, but rather by phone. Which has its straights and roundabouts (more roundabouts than straights,) and the idea of a truly secure way of carrying on a written discussion or taking a private decisions suddenly grew on me a lot. Also, communicating highly personal info would be a heckuvalot safer this way.

Their site explains it thus:

Have you ever wanted to send some highly confidential information (like credit card information or root passwords) over the Internet and were afraid others could be sniffing your traffic?. Well, I have, all the time. I’ve always being paranoid about this, so that’s why we, at Insophia, came up with Privnote, a tool for sending private notes over the net in a very easy and secure way.

There's a lively technical discussion going on on co-founder, Director, and CTO Pablo Hoffman's blog about Privnote, the gist of which is that this is a highly secure system. At least I think that is the gist...but as Barbie says, "math is hard."

So next time you want to have such a conversation, try Privnote. And I think it makes sense to keep an eye out for what these folks develop in Montevideo. Clean, simple, useful, practical. It's the future of our medium, after all. Best of all, it's free for the using.

Cute name and logo, BTW. ;-)

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Ad Network Glossary

A nice, succinct glossary of BT terms is available here at AdNetworkX.com

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Fone Future

I am not a gadget nut, but if you are you may find the following PPT from SlideShare interesting, as it showcases the coolest phones coming in the next two years. It's never too early to make a Christmas 2009 wish list!

| View | Upload your own

Thanks for...viewing, and don't forget to write.

Buy n Large Viral Site for My Man Wall-E

One of the centerpieces of the Wall-E Pixar/Disney movie is the constant and seemingly benign presence of a giant corporation that provides a range of services that allow people to just sit and drink food delivered in Slurpee style cups. It's part warehouse club, part Waste Management, and part Dear Leader from North Korea.

Well! It appears that the fine folks at Pixar decided to build a viral site for Wall-E by creating a corporate brochureware presence for BuynLarge.



Now, before you think that this is all just some one page splash screen or a site with Wall-E screen shots around, take a look and you'll see that there are well over a dozen well designed and written pages and nary a mention of the movie. In fact it is so subtle that for a brief moment I wondered whether BnL was a real company that paid for placement.

And talk about realism! Surf over to the News section and you'll find that the manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to India! Oh, and the corporation is petitioning for its own Enron Loophole.

And the claim of family values...does that sound familiar?



Was SCJ the inspiration? ;-)

There are cleva folks at Pixar. And as I live about 8 blocks from their World HQ in Emeryville CA, I am proud to call them my neighbor.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Great Post from Sarah Potemkin on iMediaConnection

A reminder of the tremendous value Millenials can bring to our understanding, and our business.

So Viral it Made Yahoo's Frontpage: Starlingpalooza

The Power of the Masses

Stonewalling is rapidly losing its effectiveness. I am a political junkie, and am often amazed how quickly info diffuses through the web. Now, not all is accurate, you understand -- witness all the major pols saying China is drilling off the FLA coast for Cuba when in fact no such drilling is occurring.

But the masses also turn up and spread accurate info with amazing speed. On my favorite political blog, TPM, the editors did a story on McCain's advisers. Apparently a month ago they asked for a list of advisers so they could check on their lobbying connections. No such list emerged, and McCain's people said, "show me a list of Obama advisers," as if being transparent only makes sense if both sides do it. Which in politics it probably does, unfortunately. So the story was posted and a list of advisors was requested.

TPM is a major community -- 676K of users per month according to Quantcast. And while the camapigns (for indeed neither is distributing a list on their web sites) can stonewall one small blogging team, they CANNOT prevent word of something getting out.

It took all of 41 minutes for a list to be produced by someone in the community -- actually a list published and constantly updated by GWU. So, likely reliable and accurate. And the picking through of the list began immediately across the community, with people turning up little turds of truth in many places.

I am sure there are turds in Obama's crew as well, so this is not about McCain but rather the power of an egalitarian web to find the story, while CNN finds a pretty white woman's murder to investigate 24/7, and Fox finds someone who hit his dog that lived in the same block as Barack and his "Baby Mama." No wonder DC is so dead set against net neutrality.

What does all this have to do with marketing? Well I think the answer is obvious. Truth will out, so it's better if you just play clean and open.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Attack Attack Attack

An interesting piece from the New York Times about Fox News's approach to other reporters reporting on Fox's reporters is available here. Interestingly, online activity has increasingly become part of their reportoire.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Remarkable Insights on Sales...

...are available here. ;-) More proof that old is the new black!

I've Got Your Spotback

So, one of the companies that I have a lot of heart for is Spotback, an Israeli start up that has created a widget and content network in which people rate content on site and create tags there as well. I first learned about SpotBack via TechCrunch, which has plugged their offering a number of times. Using your ratings and keywords as well as those of all the other people who have visited and participated, the widget can also suggest other articles on the site -- or indeed anywhere in the Spotback network of sites -- that your readers might find interesting.



I think it is an excellent advance on the first get social indexing offerings like Delicious and Digg.

Why do I think it is better? Well, the ratings system for a start. With Digg and Delicious, essentially everything is rated five stars. With those offerings, the fact that it has been indexed is what is important. Here, you get to rate content regardless of whether you are in the community, and the option to tag with key words on the site will also facilitate far better indexing of strong content.

Members of the Spotback community can rate pages regardless of whether they are part of the network through a browser bar widget (Firefox, Opera) or a special link you add to your favorites (MSIE.)

It's free, I have no idea how they will make money. But this is the web, so I am sure there will be a way devised.

Give Spotback a try on your blog. The installation is a little complicated as it requires edits to the HTML of your page, but if you follow the abundantly clear instructions it works on the first try. And it's fun to make and collect ratings, while also offering your visitors more content options that may make them stay longer.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

"When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library." Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

As someone whose every flat surface groans from the weight of far too many books, I am always quietly startled when I enter the house of someone and there are no books to be seen. It's not a value judgement but rather a bit of incredulity that someone can live without the joy of a quiet rainy afternoon with one's nose in the pages of book of whatever genre.

I am even more amazed when I enter houses with kids in which kids rooms are not stocked with books. Sure, computers are amazing and you can now get millions of books for free, I get that. But the experience of a paper book -- the scent, the sound, the feel -- is a cornerstone in a healthy childhood. And a healthy adulthood, come to that.

Which is why I am excited to tell you that my friend Kim Askew has launched a new web-based service called My Personal Librarian that offers to help you build a library by getting a picture of your interests and goals and then purchasing titles accordingly.

Kim is a prolific writer, web site editor, and smart cookie that knows her way around a dusty shelf. Her site and business offer a variety of ways to work with a Personal Librarian, but the process always begins with an interview about your interests and needs, and then the recommendations go from there.



Here are some of the ways to invest in this service:

Shopping List--available in increments of 100
Kim will create a personal book shopping list for you.

Starter Library—starts at 100 books

Abundant Library--starts at 300 books

Extraordinary Library--starts at 500 books

Children’s Library--starts at 100 books

Collegiate Library--starts at 100 books

Electronic Library--monthly subscription fee

Gift Certificates

Additional Services - Rare books, special edition, leather bound, and other add-ons available to any of the above purchases.

BTW, just to read her site is a joy as she is such a gifted writer.

I understand her business is doing rather well. Beyond the simple pleasure of knowledge, seeking expert help in the acquisition of books seems a really nice thing to see succeeding.

Check it out, particularly if your bookshelves are filled with Star Wars action figures instead of words. She can certainly fill them with the absolute best sci fi...

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.