Ads With Your Name On Them

eldavojohn writes "The NYTimes is running an interesting blog piece on the answers Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, & Google gave to the question: Can they show you an ad with your name on it? The results: 'Microsoft says it could use only a person's first name [which it doesn't consider personal information]. AOL and Yahoo could use a full name but only on their sites, not the other sites on which they place ads. Google isn't sure; it probably could, but it doesn't know the names of most of its users.' Now whether or not they would use this information is a different story. AOL has no plans to, Yahoo is open to it, and Microsoft has implemented a technological barrier preventing it (despite behavioral and demographic data being served to the ad companies). Although Google might use name information at some point, they don't now do so; nor do they use behavioral or demographic data."

Mobil card

[Intron]

Exxxxxon/Mobil gas pumps used to put your name up when you used your credit card to buy gas. Not for any reason, just because they could. I felt it was intrusive, since anybody at a neighboring pump now knows my name, but kind of a minor annoyance.

Amazon has already done this...

[nebaz]

Several years ago I was surfing some non-amazon related site, and there was an add at the bottom from amazon, with my name on it (presumably a amazon hosted ad that looked at my cookie information). Really freaked me out. I haven't seen anything like this for a while though.

I work for an ad agency.

[verbalcontract]

And I've written text-based ads for Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.

But I can't imagine anyone would want to purchase a product based on an ad with their name on it. "Hey Morley! Buy some laundry detergent!" I'd get freaked out, and I'd forever associate that creepy feeling with the product. And I'd never buy it.

I imagine most people would feel the same way. And I imagine most copywriters -- who are less like the oily marketeers you're thinking of -- would feel the same.

I say, if some oily marketeer wants to use this feature -- and it is only at most my first name -- he deserves to scare off his customers.

Re:Sounds scary

[Hoplite3]

Exactly. If they put up an ad with my name on it, it would freak me out. I wouldn't exactly be racing to buy stuff.

If the advertiser reveals how well he knows me, he's making me uncomfortable. It's like some stranger knocking on your door an inquiring about the health of your child. It sounds like a threat, or at least establishes an asymmetric relationship (they know more about you than you do about them).

Re:ads with your name on them

[hedwards]

I don't think that annoying is quite the right word.

Excellent vector for phishing, perhaps. Great way to devalue a person's name; almost assuredly. Great opportunity to figure out which sites are handing over my person all information; definitely.

If this sort of thing does happen, I'm going to start using a different handle for each site that I join, and then refuse to do business with whichever sites are providing my information to the sort of sleaze that would use my personal information to address me via the net. These sorts of initiatives are creepy at best, and at worst a serious security risk.

This sort of thing is exactly why I don't allow third party cookies, and restrict most cookies to per session use only. Refuse to allow random flash ads while I'm browsing and completely ban third party scripts unless I absolutely have to, in which case I allow them on a per session basis as needed.

Really, what this all amounts to is a tremendous invasion of privacy and a lack of proper information being provided to the end users to decide what information that we're willing to hand over for access to a site.

What no "minorityreport" tags?

[SeaFox]

I already am slightly unnerved when ads for dating sites and such already know where I am, and that doesn't even require a cookie generally.

Well, they know your ISP

[SmallFurryCreature]

Which in my case screwed it up since with my old ISP it used to be correct, but not with my new one. Apparently I live in some small village, not the city.

And yes, it makes a difference, these ads are HORRIBEL and anyone with a brain will know that they are ALL scams, how come there are only attractive women near you?

But the naming of your home town makes it seems more legit. It is afterall how confidence tricksters work, by finding stuff out that you somehow let them know but using it in the right way to make you believe they really know you.

Re:Sounds scary

[Obfuscant]

A couple of my credit card companies did this (call me by name when they answered the phone) for a while. It REALLY bugged me. Not that they knew my name, but that they assumed that my work phone number, used by a whole room full of people, was always me calling.

They stopped. I asked why, and they said it really creeped their customers out.

Google knows your name

[CopaceticOpus]

[Google] doesn't know the names of most of its users.

That's cute, real cute. I'm pretty sure Google knows more about me than anyone in my life. They know my name from Gmail and they've confirmed it with Google Checkout. They got my address there and know it's the same street I use as an origin when getting directions on Google Maps. They also know all the alternate emails I use that forward into Gmail. They follow my Slashdot usage because Gmail gets notified when someone replies to one of my posts. They learn about all my online purchases that way too. They recently learned more about my web endeavors thanks to Google Analytics.

They know countless random topics that have popped into my head, because the first thing I do is to Google them. This has taught them all sorts of things about my personality and interests, including topics I might keep private from most everyone I know. When I go to Google News they learn about what events catch my attention. They know I still only click on a Google Ad every few months, but that hasn't stopped them from showing ads every chance they get. And of course, they've got Doubleclick now just on the off chance that I might be visiting a site they don't cover or that I might click on an ad they didn't provide.

I didn't even mention Picasa or Google Earth. And if that's not enough, just imagine what they'll know once they get a piece of the internet backbone.

No offense to the Googlebot reading this!