Smart, Useful, Scary,
Creepy:
PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE
BEHAVIORAL
ADVERTISING
Privacy Concerns
 OBA = Online Behavioral Advertising

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission:
 Data collection can be sneaky
 Privacy notices are not easy to understand
 User profiles are potentially too detailed
 Could be uniquely identifiable
 Profiles could contain sensitive data
 Info about health, finances, children
Problems
 Users do not understand how OBA works
 Many misconceptions about how and what data is collected
 Misunderstand the role of advertising networks
 Users are unaware of the control they have over their
own privacy regarding OBA


Users misinterpret the warning signs of OBA
Users misconstrue how to control the monitoring of their
behavior
 Solution:
 Understand how internet consumers perceive OBA to better
inform them and protect their privacy by employing more
effective Notice and Choice mechanisms
What OBA Is and How It Works
 Goal:
 to construct a profile of an Internet user using his or her
browsing habits used in targeted advertising
 Data:
 visible content from the site a user is visiting explicitly, and
invisible content from a third-party that has a relationship
with the visited website
 Third parties:
 advertising networks, analytics companies, social networks
 How:
 A cookie identifies a user across partner sites to track browsing
history
Users’ Impressions of Internet Advertising
 Negative:
 Annoying, unnecessary, distracting, interfering
 Associated with pop-ups
 Unfounded fears
 Useful:
 Helped users find new products
 Helps fund free services
Users’ Impressions on How OBA Works
 Based on browsing history and web searches
 Hoped actual monitoring is hypothetical
 Some aware of cookies but don’t understand details
 Believed data like purchase history could be bought
 Some thought that interaction with the ad was
necessary
 Targeted advertising only happens on websites like
Facebook, Gmail, or Amazon


Customization is good
Privacy invasion is bad
OBA Icons
 Goal: inform users that their data is being collected
 Users’ perceptions
 Many had never seen the icons before, even when shown in
context with advertisements
 Some felt that icons meant “internet based ads” or represented
“great deals online”
 No one realized what the icons were actually trying to tell them
 Some thought they allowed users to choose what type of ads
they would receive
 Some thought that clicking on the icon would let them tell the
advertisers about their interests, perhaps providing a list of
subjects
OBA Icons continued…
 Users’ perceptions
 Solicited companies to buy an ad
 Clicking would lead to pop-ups
 Clicking would yield more
information about currently
advertised product or expand the
advertisement
 Clicking would allow advertisers
track the user
 Meant to legitimize the ad and
distinguish it from the page
content
 Result: ineffective
to
Users’ OBA Pros
After being informed, users concluded:
 Help users find things they are interested in
 Provide a more relevant and interesting internet
experience
 Help users save money by finding deals
 Advertisers can make more money by targeting the
right users
 Website that host OBA can make more money
Users’ OBA Cons
After being informed, users concluded:
 The idea that they could be monitored is creepy
 Concerning that this observation is silent
 Uncomfortable that third parties put “things” on
their computers without explicit permission
 Offended by being stereotyped by advertisers
because online activity is not an accurate
representation of a person

Ex: research
Users’ OBA Cons continued…
 Uncomfortable that clicking something on accident
or someone else using their computer is included in
their profile
 Insecure: what else can people learn about them
through their computers?

Many believed that advertisers have access to personally
identifiable information which can be given to another party
and/or used maliciously
 Equivalent to someone following you around
watching everything you do

Changes your behavior if you know you’re being watched
Who Does the Collecting Matters
 Familiar company Google vs. unfamiliar company
BlueKai

Users trust that Google is not mal-intentioned
 A company with too much user information
 Google collecting info can help in search but need to be careful
when drawing the line because they also manage email and
documents
 Reputation as a viable corporation
 Yahoo and AOL not trustworthy because they are not as
financially stable and may do unpredictable things with users’
data in desperation
 Microsoft is untrustworthy because people don’t like their
products
Users’ Methods to Stop OBA
 Delete browsing history: cookies and cache
 Depend on computer security tools

anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, firewalls, proxies, Linux
 Web browser should support controlling OBA


Private browsing
Unaware of plugins or specific software
 Ignore the ads


Ad-blocking software, unsubscribing from emails
Never clicking on ads
 Websites should be able to stop OBA

Unsure if they exist but they should oversee online marketing
 None were aware of self-regulatory websites, opt-out
programs, or “Do Not Track”
Users’ Conclusions
 Mixed bag
 OBA can help users find deals when planning a vacation, but
advertisers can know when the consumers aren’t home
 OBA is okay situationally
 Reading the news vs. researching STD symptoms
 Desired solutions
 Less distracting and interfering advertising
 Explicit user feedback: Have companies inquire about user
interests as opposed to collecting user behavior
 More awareness of how everything works
Notice and Choice
 Industry self-regulation
 Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)
 Network Advertising Initiative (NAI)
 Goal: give users notice about OBA and the choice to
opt-out so they have more control over their privacy
 DAA principles:

Consumer Control


Opt-out of targeted advertisements
Transparency

Advertising option icon
More Effective Notice and Choice
 Better communicate that icons and text signals are meant
for customers and are not solicitations for advertisers
 Change location so that icon does not seem like part of
the ad that could provide more information
 Give users more choices to meet their expectations

Users believed that they could make choices about the types of ads
they could receive, and they should be able to specify interest
categories or correct incorrect profiles
 Create different opt-out methods or better inform users
about current opt-out methods


Many believed in simply deleting their cookies, but that would
actually counteract opt-out cookie mechanisms
Current methods, such as clicking on the icon or visiting another
website, are counterintuitive
Ad Choices
More Effective Notice and Choice cont…
 Better inform users of how tracking occurs whether or not
they interact with the advertisement

Users instinctively avoid clicking on ads to avoid being tracked, but that
is currently how they can control OBA
 Emphasize the difference between security and privacy
 Inform users that OBA is not related to viruses
 Stress the difference between company services and
advertising

The Windows OS is different from Microsoft Advertising, so users should
not make decisions based on companies’ products.
 Allow for more situational OBA
 OBA can be more or less appropriate depending on the browsing
context, for both privacy reasons and usefulness.
 Users should be able to specify which topics are available for data
collection.
 Encourage browsers to meet user expectation or make users
aware of current browser tools
Conclusion
 Most users are partially or fully against OBA
 “smart but creepy”
 OBA is not as dangerous as users think it is
 Attitudes influenced by:
 Incorrect assumptions of what and how much data is collected
 Misunderstanding of the parties involved in OBA and how they operate
 Misconstruing the profiling technology
 Current notice and choice methods are failing
 Users should be properly informed of the practice of tailoring advertising
 Users should be aware of how to control OBA
 Current methods to control OBA are limited and difficult to
use
 Users’ understanding of OBA need to be considered in notice
and choice mechanisms