Coming Soon, Web Ads Tailored To Your Zip+4 185
On the heels of Apple's intention to collect and sell detailed location data comes word that Juniper is putting together technology that will allow any ISP to present you to advertisers by your Zip+4. An anonymous reader sends this snip from Wired: "Your Internet service provider knows where you live, and soon, it will have a way to sell your zip code to advertisers so they can target ads by neighborhood. If your local pizza joint wants to find you, they will have a new way to do that. National advertisers will be able to market directly to neighborhoods with like characteristics across the whole country using demographic data they've been gathering for decades. ... Juniper Networks, which sells routers to ISPs, plans to start selling them add-on technology from digital marketer Feeva that affixes a tag inside the HTTP header, consisting of each user's 'zip+4' — a nine-digit zipcode that offers more accuracy than five-digit codes. Juniper hopes to sell the software to ISPs starting this summer, having announced a partnership with Feeva earlier this year."
HTTPS ... (Score:3, Interesting)
... FTW. Let's see them munge the headers with that.
Re:Why not? (Score:1, Interesting)
a little more relevant
I might not have a problem with that, but my town is small enough that my zip+4 uniquely identifies my family's PO box.
Well, crap like that does not fly with me (Score:5, Interesting)
While I may or may not be able to block said targeted advertising, I can guaranty that I will explicitly boycott any companies that use such services like this to target me. I do the same thing with telemarketers and those people who leave door tags on my door. If I want something, I will go find it.
Easily blocked by techies? (Score:4, Interesting)
This should be easily handled with a browser plugin.
For those of you saying "browse more with SSL", this is primarily going to benefit site owners with more targeted ads, who will know it doesn't work with SSL.
For those of you saying "use Adblock", that won't stop site owners from using this information for other purposes. Some sites will already have this information, particularly if you do e-commerce with them. But others may not. Do you really want midgetporn.com to know where you live?
Re:Why not? (Score:3, Interesting)
They will not stop pushing. They will not stop moving forward until we all start pushing back.
I push back as much as I can. Adblock+NoScript is only the beginning but a damned good start. But that's just what individuals can do and most will not. So in addition to that, people have to start complaining to law makers and government agencies about it. I mean sure, you can identify people responsible for the excessive advertising and place roadkill on their doorstep with a note about "stop flooding me with advertising" but I seriously doubt they will care or stop. Advertisers and marketers feel entitled to do the most they can do. In fact, their jobs depend on a "growth metric" so if they are not pushing that line forward and even holding steady, they will get fired. It's an ugly business dumping its ugliness all over us. They simply don't know what respectful means.
Re:This is worse (Score:2, Interesting)
I seem to have a big problem with telemarketers. A big problem, like 10-15 calls a day. I changed my phone number and relaxed in the week of silence. Then I had to update my Cox billing information, and they got the new number. Not even two hours later, the telemarketers started calling again.
My point is, your ISP has (probably) been selling you down the river since you signed up, as has pretty much everyone else you've given personal information to. Magazine subscriptions, any number of websites, your bank, utilities...nothing new here.
Zip+4 uniquely identifies 1E+09 entities. (Score:2, Interesting)
Does the use of Zip+4 strike anyone as a little odd? After all, it allows for 1E+09 entities, and the population of the US is only around 3E+08. Sounds like a serial number to me.
Re:Why not? (Score:3, Interesting)
place road-kill on their doorstep with a note about "stop flooding me with advertising"
...and then place two the next day with a sign saying "SPECIAL TWO-FOR-ONE OFFER!"
But, you don't have privacy... (Score:0, Interesting)
I'm sorry that you feel that you actually have privacy in this digital age, but personally, and most of the world, would actually rather have things targeted at them with actual relevancy. People hate having to find things on their own.
I will admit that the ZIP+4 scheme seems a little too personal, a ZIP code should have been the most required since they all live in the same area, ZIP codes are relatively small chunks of areas.
Even ZIPs might be too personal since most areas in general aren't built around self-contained mini-cities, most areas are built using the old stupid methods of town / city centers, industrial sector, business (new-ish), house and farming on the outskirts, etc
But that isn't really the main point, the main point is you already never had any privacy when you decided to stay connected to society, live with it or leave society.
Hell, go start your own society where you all have 100% privacy. Enjoy your mess. We already tried that thousands of times over the past few thousand years.
And if you think this sort of stuff will work on the scale of the human race now, you are clueless.
Anyone smart enough is welcome to drop everything and go live outside of society, it isn't that hard, people vanish off the "radar" all the time to get away from society for whatever reasons they had, mainly to start over because of bills. Policing systems aren't expected to keep up with the numbers of people who suddenly vanish because of a few bills left unpaid, it isn't worth the resources.
And considering this is in America, you guys have loads of space you can go to.
Data is the most valuable thing in this society, it helps make predictions, it helps with crime, it helps with countless other things. But most of all, it helps keep a society moderately stable. Without it, it would literally be chaos.
I'm likely to end up moderated as a troll due to my opinion, sadly, due to people abusing it because "strong" opinions are obviously trolling on the internets, right?
But the simple fact remains that if you live in the walls of society, you are expected to make sacrifices in freedoms and privacy in order to keep it stable.
Also, don't label all advertisers and marketers under one blanket label please.
Some companies are actually decent and just want to help people find the things they want.
You mentioned one of them already, the local directories of businesses in your area.
Re:Zip+4 uniquely identifies 1E+09 entities. (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, Zip+4 identifies buildings, or groups of buildings... not people. Your ZIP+4 might change over the course of your life - maybe even several times.
My Zip+4 corresponds to the 4 houses on my driveway... but the post office sees ##A, ##B, ##C and ##D on my street and decides that these are clearly apartments in an apartment building. So sites that collect and distribute "public information" about me tend to start off by being completely wrong about my living arrangements.
Re:But, you don't have privacy... (Score:3, Interesting)
Most of modern advertising is an attempt to control your behavior -- it's applied psychology, a weak form of mind control [io9.com] designed to get you to buy stuff you do not need or want, to keep feeding the unsustainable society of consumption [wikipedia.org].
And you'd like it to be more targeted and effective? Fsck that.
Uh, no. What you are saying makes no sense. Up until the late 20th century, for all of human history you had privacy as soon as you went home and closed the door, or even walked out into a field away from other people. Freedom from company, which was easily achieved, meant freedom from observation. But now we have machines to do the observation.
Your "live with it or leave" declaration is irrational. In order to make society livable and sustainable, we must construct it with respect for basic human needs. Privacy is one of them. Respect privacy or watch society collapse.
No. Again, what you are saying makes no sense. A working society is a network whereby people expand their choices and thus have greater freedoms. And a respect for privacy is one of the fundamental requirement for a society to flourish.