Poll Results: Web "Do not track" not likely to have a major effect

KDnuggets readers doubt that "Do not track" will have a major impact on web advertising

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The previous KDnuggets Poll asked

US Congress is discussing "Do not track registry", which will allow people to opt-out of tracking. Do you think such registry, if enacted, will significantly reduce ad targeting and behavioral advertising?

Only a third of the respondents think that there will be a major effect of reducing the web targeting. The majority doubts that the effect will be significant, either because few people will opt-in into the proposed opt-in registry or because the advertisers can still target to anonymous visitors.

One can even argue that the people likely to opt-in into do not track are the people who will not click on ads, so the registry may increase the effectiveness of the online ads.

Poll Results
Yes, it will significantly reduce ad targeting (33)	33%
No, mainly because few people will opt-out (23)	23%
No, mainly because companies can still target ads to anonymous visitors (31)	31%
Not sure (14)	14%

See also

• USA Today: Our view on the Internet: 'Do Not Track' plan protects privacy on the Wild West Web, Dec 7, 2010.
• New York Times A 'Do Not Call' Registry for the Web?, Dec 2, 2010.
• B2C Marketing Insider, FTC's "Do Not Track" Proposal Violates The Marketing Morality Curve, Dec 7, 2010.

Finally, the "Do not track" proposal is likely to be "off track", since the incoming republican majority in the US House of Representatives seems to be cool to the idea - see Republicans cool to "do not track" Web plan (Reuters, Dec 2, 2010)

Comments:

Gregory Piatetsky
The proposal seems to be off-track since the republicans were against it, saying it will cool innovation.