[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Engage and opting out



Michael Thomas of Engage replies with some clarifications (or are they
rationalizations?)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 16:38:54 -0500
From: Michael Thomas <mdthomas@mindspring.com>
To: Paul Jones <pjones@metalab.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Engage and opting out

Please forward this to your class if appropriate.

Couple of notes here:

* Web advertisers get more revenue from more targeted ads. It can also be argued
that people browsing the web will get more utility from an ad that is targeted
to them. E.g., I'm thinking about buying some stereo equipment. As far as I'm
concerned, I'd like for every ad I see on the web to be about stereo equipment.

* The company line: Engage differs from Doubleclick in that we do anonymous
profiling. Engage doesn't match name, address and other personal demographic
information with a person's online profile. Doubleclick does.

* Here's a note from the trenches: DCLK stock is off about 30% since it
announced its plans.  Why does this matter? 99% of the employees of these new
economy companies hold options in their companies. It's a tried and true axiom
that the most valuable asset of tech companies is it's employees. When a
company's stock crashes, it can experience brain-drain -- you don't hear about
people getting giddy to go work for MSFT any more. This brain drain can cause
all sorts of problems, which can result in more wealth loss for the entire
organization. That's money (and dreams) that is lost for every employee, from
whoever picks up the phone to the CEO. Thus, laws are one way to regulate the
activities of corporations. For the new economy companies, making the stock
market nervous about a company is possibly quicker and more effective.

Paul Jones wrote:

> http://www.engage.com/privacy/
> You may recall that early in the semester I took a phone call from a
> friend who works with Engage, a Triangle company much like
> Double-Click. We chatted about Engage's data collection a bit and wondered
> if Engage was like DC in that respect. The answer is yes, sort of. Take a
> look at the Engage Privacy page (noted above) and you'll see some
> aggressive activities to inform the consumer and to self-regulate
> including opt-out, external review (by the flacid TrustE for better or
> worse), clearly written policy, conference activities, industry
> association, AND a response to the 60 Minutes show that Robyn discussed in
> class.
>
> ==========================================================================
>                              Paul Jones
>    "We must protect our precious bodily fluids!" General Jack D Ripper
> http://MetaLab.unc.edu/pjones/ at the Site Formerly Known As SunSITE.unc.edu
>   pjones@MetaLab.unc.edu   voice: (919) 962-7600     fax: (919) 962-8071
> ===========================================================================