I represented Lotame on a Future of Privacy Forum event focused on “Do Not Track” and held at the National Press Club on December 1st (Future of Privacy Forum). Kudos to Jules Polonetsky, Chris Wolf and FPF for pulling together such a timely discussion (which took place only a few hours after the FTC released a report recommending development of a “Do Not Track” mechanism, and the day before a Congressional hearing on the subject.)
Danny Weitzner, a senior official from the Department of Commerce, led off the event with opening remarks, followed by privacy researcher Chris Soghoian’s technical review of perceived limitations and shortcomings with the current cookie-based opt-out regimes, and then a panel discussion, featuring me, Chris and representatives from Mozilla, Stanford, the ITIF and Consumer Action.
Through the course of the event, we identified a wide variety of concerns and issues regarding the potential design, scope, implementation and impact of a “Do Not Track” mechanism. Since so many others have echoed, added to and elaborated on these DNT issues and concerns, I won’t repeat them here. Suffice it to say that, notwithstanding the alignment of virtually every panelist around providing consumers with new and better tools for privacy management online, we did not see DNT as a “silver bullet” for achieving this goal. On the other hand, as I pointed out, we have fortunately already solved numerous issues associated with current opt-out approaches. And, as a result, consumers now have access to a rich and growing array of tools dedicated to assisting them in managing their online privacy and customizing their online advertising experiences.
I also used the discussion as an opportunity to reiterate Lotame’s strong support for transparency and consumer choice in regards to data collection and use, as demonstrated through the numerous Opt-Out Tools we promote, the Lotame Preferences Manager we offer, and our active participation in self-regulatory and voluntary programs, such as the industry’s new central Consumer Choice page (www.aboutads.info) and the Open Data Partnership project announced earlier today. Lotame will continue to take a progressive stance in supporting consumer needs in the digital marketing ecosystem and adopting and promoting tools which meet these needs – while favoring innovations from industry, entrepreneurs and other independent players over legislative or regulatory solutions. Though well-intended, the latter are almost certain to fail in keeping up with the rapid pace of change in Internet technologies, services and business models; and will (ironically) instead likely serve to constrain consumer choices – not only in managing their privacy online, but in preserving their access to the many advertising-supported Internet products and services on which they depend.
- Adam Lehman, Chief Operating Officer, Lotame
