We live in a society that wants the government to interfere in everything. Hell, here in Atlanta someone is actually trying to pass a law that limits what you can wear in public. We turn over our freedoms for “security”. We ask the government to take care of everyone and everything in order to live life a little easier. “Protect me, oh great one, for I cannot protect myself. Protect me from everyone and everything that you think is wrong and unjust. Take away my responsibility for understanding the world and lead me like the blind leading the blind.”

I don’t know about you, but from what I’ve experienced I don’t want these crazy fools coming in and telling me what is good and what isn’t. There is an idea within the FTC that we need a “Do not track” list. In theory, it would allow consumers to place their name on a list and those users could not be cookied (tracked). In practice, this idea is almost 100% impossible and I’m absolutely certain it is ludicrous.

This is based on the “Do Not Call” list which is assigned to a single telephone number. So, technically how would they implement this online? An IP address is usually variable depending on how many an ISP owns. Also, session IDs vary each and every time you open up a new browser, so logistically that is impossible. A consumer identity varies from site to site – each registration you do is held independently from login to login (unless you are using Google stuff or MSN .NET). There is no universal identification system. So, that’s out. Email addresses are changed like underwear – so, that’s out. Tracking cookies are placed based on exposure through the sites that you visit. Who will maintain this? Will the publishers be responsible or the 3rd party ad servers? Will consumers be forced to accept the ads every time one is served (can you say Windows Vista?)?

Tracking cookies are placed by advertisers to relate a plethora of information on what your computer is doing. From cookies, we can tell what site a browser has been to, what time of day, the length of time, the browser type, connection speed, and many more elements. What cookies CANNOT tell you is exactly who you are. I can tell that a computer at IP address X.XXX.XX.X had my ad served to it at some point and subsequently went to the site I was advertising. I can tell you a lot about the computer information, but absolutely nothing about the user. The association is by PROXY. It is not a one to one relationship. If you have 5 computer users in your house and one computer, I cannot tell you if mom, dad, sister, brother or dog navigated from MTV to Collegehumor.com.

We’ve all heard about the shift from push advertising to pull advertising and this is why it’s happening. Tracking cookies allow for the dialog – that is how the consumers are communicating to the advertisers. The information that is garnered allows for more targeted placements and better matches between computer and advertising. Oh, and have I mentioned that consumers don’t mind being tracked? Studies have been done that say (paraphrased) a majority of consumers would agree to tracking if it brought them more relevant ads for products that they would be interested in. But, in order to know what a consumer would be interested in, we have to know what that computer has been doing.

When all is said and done, we currently have very specific privacy standards that must be maintained. Advertisers are still consumers. As a whole, we don’t like big brother either. As a whole, we respect privacy. Why would I want to inflict on someone else what I don’t want inflicted upon me? Instead of creating panic, the approach should be education on the matter. The FTC should go back to fining Howard Stern and leave the internet to those who understand.