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An old saying has it that half of alladvertising budgets are wasted—the trouble is, no one knows which half. In theinternet age, at least in theory, this fraction can be much reduced. Bywatching what people search for, click on and say online, companies can aim“behavioural” ads at those most likely to buy.
In the past couple of weeks a quarrelhas illustrated the value to advertisers of such fine-grained information:Should advertisers assume that people are happy to be tracked and sentbehavioural ads? Or should they have explicit permission?
In December 2010 America’s FederalTrade Commission (FTC) proposed adding a “do not track” (DNT) option tointernet browsers, so that users could tell advertisers that they did not wantto be followed. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari both offerDNT; Google’s Chrome is due to do so this year. In February the FTC and theDigital Advertising Alliance (DAA) agreed thatthe industrywould getcracking on responding to DNT requests.
On May 31st Microsoft set off the row.It said that Internet Explorer 10, the version due to appear with windows 8,would have DNT as a default.
Advertisers are horrified. Human naturebeing what it is, most people stick with default settings. Few switch DNT onnow, but if tracking is off it will stay off. Bob Liodice, the chief executiveof the Association of National Advertisers, says consumers will be worse off ifthe industry cannot collect information about their preferences. People willnot get fewer ads, he says. “They’ll get less meaningful, less targeted ads.”
It is not yet clear how advertiserswill respond. Getting a DNT signal does not oblige anyone to stop tracking,although some companies have promised to do so. Unable to tell whether someonereally objects to behavioural ads or whether they are sticking with Microsoft’sdefault, some may ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway.
Also unclear is why Microsoft has goneit alone. After all, it has an ad business too, which it says will comply withDNT requests, though it is still working out how. If it is trying to upsetGoogle, which relies almost wholly on advertising, it has chosen an indirectmethod: There is no guarantee that DNT by default will become the norm. DNTdoes not seem an obviously huge selling point for windows 8—though the firm hascompared some of its other products favourably with Google’s on that countbefore. Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer, blogged: “We believeconsumers should have more control.” Could it really be that simple?
26. It is suggested in Paragraph 1 that“behavioural” ads help advertisers to
[A] ease competition among themselves.
[B] lower their operational costs.
[C] avoid complaints from consumers.
[D] provide better online services.
27. “The industry” (Line 6, Para.3)refers to
[A] online advertisers.
[B] e-commerce conductors.
[C] digital information analysis.
[D] internet browser developers.
28. Bob Liodice holds that setting DNT as a default.
[A] may cut the number of junk ads.
[B] fails to affect the ad industry.
[C] will not benefit consumers.
[D] goes against human nature.
29. Which ofthe following is true according to Paragraph 6?
[A] DNT may not serve its intended purpose.
[B] Advertisers are willing to implement DNT.
[C] DNT is losing its popularity among consumers.
[D] Advertisers are obliged to offerbehavioural ads.
30. Theauthor's attitude towards what Brendon Lynch said in his blog is one of
[A] indulgence.
[B] understanding.
[C] appreciation.
[D] skepticism.
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