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July 18, 2008
NebuAd: Like Galileo, Only More Put Upon
I think I have a new favorite CEO:
“NebuAd CEO Bob Dykes took another shellacking on Capitol Hill this morning, as lawmakers probed into his company’s controversial plan to target ads to Internet users by intercepting their Web activities from broadband service providers.
“Appearing before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Dykes reprised his testimony at a Senate hearing last week, defending his company against charges that NebuAd’s technology runs roughshod over consumer privacy.
“‘In many ways I feel like Galileo when he was viewed with skepticism for demonstrating that the Earth revolved around the sun,’ Dykes said, emphatically claiming that NebuAd only collects nonsensitive information on an anonymous basis. ‘No one, not even the government, can determine the identity of our users.’”
Also:
“The matter of consent was central to the hearing. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, pressed Dykes on whether he would be willing to alter NebuAd’s policy so that consumers would have to proactively consent to having their browsing histories tracked, rather than the current model, which sets tracking as the default but allows people to opt out.
“Dykes did not answer the question directly, instead saying that it is important for the ISPs to give their subscribers ‘robust notice’ — a phrase he repeated more than half a dozen times throughout the hearing. Visibly frustrated, Markey tried again.
“‘Should you get permission from the consumer first, Mr. Dykes?’
“Again Dykes protested and said he felt like he was being bullied, like a man facing the hopelessly loaded question, ‘Have you stopped beating your wife?’”
As much as I wish Google wasn’t so gosh-darned sunny about the privacy issues its business model raises, it has been up front about key services where behavioral observation matters, like Gmail. When you’re dealing with Google, you understand you’re involved in a transaction: You get to have nice Google things by giving up some information about yourself. Google itself frames things differently, but the mechanism is obvious and Google provides a service beyond “you get nicer ads.” And even if you block cookies, you can still at least use a pretty good search engine.
NebuAd? You get nicer ads, and the occasional spectacle of its CEO veering between self-aggrandizement and self-pity in front of Congress.
(Link)
Posted by mhall at 6:24 PM | Add Comment
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