On Cookie Blocking
It would not be surprising if an article like “Firefox Cookie-Block Is The First Step Toward A Better Tomorrow” was written by a privacy advocate. And it may well have been. But this privacy advocate is also a former chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau. (For their current position, see “Randall Rothenberg’s Statement Opposing Mozilla’s Intention to Block Third-Party Cookies.”
But quoting from “the first step:”
First, the current promise of ultra-targeted audiences delivered in massively efficient ways is proving to be one of the more empty statements in recent memory. Every day more data shows that what is supposed to be happening is far from reality. Ad impressions are not actually in view, targeting data is, on average, 50% inaccurate by some measures (even for characteristics like gender) and, all too often, the use of inferred targeting while solving for low-cost clicks produces cancerous placements for the marketer. At the end of the day, the three most important players in the ecosystem – the visitor, the content creator and the marketer – are all severely impaired, or even negatively impacted, by these practices.
It’s a quick read, and fascinating when you consider the source.