Maggie's Farm

Knowing more than a little about advertising, it's worth noting most of the 'recommendations' made by Ceglowski and the author (Zuckerman) are actually being worked on, or utilized by premium publishers.

The problem isn't big corporations. They have actually gone out of their way to improve their data controls and protect internet users.

The problem is the very openness of the internet, and the expectation by so many users that it is 'free'.

As a result, advertisers have realized they an aggregate disparate sources of data from shoppers off-line, TV viewing habits from smart TVs and set-top boxes, credit card companies, and online visitors to their own sites. They can further use this aggregated information to target, and collect additional information, from the very ads you see on premiere sites such as the NYTimes, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, etc.

This allows them to further target their audience to buy ads more cheaply on lowest common denominator sites like Joe's Sports, Suzy's News and other sites that do little to protect your privacy by purchasing them through what are known as "Ad Networks". These ad networks power bloggers around the world, keeping them in business by paying them to post opinions and stories all day, every day.

It's a battle, but the premium publishers are starting to push back and win, however slowly. Over time, they have begun to create and implement data policies to protect their users and their user data better.

It's not perfect yet, and it never will be. But there is a balance which must be understood.

As much as publishers are trying to keep their users' data safe and as 'private' as possible, there is no way for the internet to exist on a non-advertising basis. Having that advertising means that some information about your behavior will always be known and out there. The question is how much, and how is that being handled?

Sadly, the last place to seek assistance is the government. While they voice their support for 'privacy rules', every politician uses some kind of database to target users in their district - so they carve out special loopholes for themselves and their friends who pay lots of money to keep data targeting alive.

The best hope, and one which is gaining great momentum, are premium sites themselves, who have realized the more advertisers know about their users, the less money they can make from advertising.

As a result, these sites are making slow but steady progress to REDUCE the amount of advertising, make it more beneficial by only allowing data to be utilized at a cost to the advertiser themselves, limiting the data that can be collected, and putting restrictions on how long that data can be held or used.

It's foolish to think paying for something via subscriber fee is a means of avoiding advertising. Over time, subscriber fees flatline - you can only raise them so much before you lose subscribers. In addition, a subscription base is an automatic qualifying piece of data. Every subscription company in the world, at some point, will realize they can use that subscription base as a means of targeting efficiently and getting a new revenue stream via advertising.

Except Consumer Reports. But they are a very special case.