DoubleClick chairman and chief executive Kevin O’Connor, whose company thrives on data that is used to target banner ads at specific groups of people would appear confused as to the importance of maintaining the privacy of those whose data is collected. Speaking at the start of Jupiter Communications Inc’s fourth annual Online Advertising Forum he blamed the press for blowing up the problem into something bigger than it really is. However, about an hour later, speaking on a panel examining the web’s impact on direct marketing techniques, O’Connor described privacy as a huge problem this year.
He explained that DoubleClick draws the line pretty clearly on this issue, with the data belonging to publishers staying with the publishers, and the data belonging to the advertisers staying with them. He says the line is crossed when a users clicks on an ad, at which time the ownership is transferred from the publisher to the advertiser. The fact that O’Connor doesn’t seem to believe that any of this data might belong to the users perhaps explains his confusion.
Meanwhile, Jupiter Communications, the sponsor of the show at which O’Connor was appearing, seems to have made its mind up on the issue, citing the findings of its report yesterday that said 64% of those it surveyed are unlikely to trust a web site, even if it had a published privacy policy. Mind you, like O’Connor, Jupiter criticized the media, as well as the government for contributing to the fuel for consumer fears. Jupiter advises web site owners to be as proactive in educating the public as they have been in lobbying the government and legislators in their attempt to prevent the imposition of online privacy legislation.
