Charter agree to stop deployment of NebuAd - for now

by: admin Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

In a decision that could affect the future ad revenue models for both the web and mobile Charter Communications, the US Cable company has suspended it’s NebuAd powered ad program over concerns for users privacy.
The plan had received a lot of attention from privacy groups. Both Free Press and Public Knowledge have run campaigns to raise awareness of NebuAd’s service. Last week the two groups released a technical report that showed according to Wired that “NebuAd actively manipulates data flowing from websites to user’s browsers by adding its own JavaScript that pretends to be from a site such as Google. That script redirects users browsers to get cookies and report information to other companies’ ad networks.”

“We call on other customers of NebuAd to follow Charter’s lead and to stop doing business with a company that violates customers’ privacy as well as established technical standards on the Internet,” said Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge.

The outcry by privacy groups helped raise the topic in Washington. Rep. Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet said “Given the serious privacy concerns raised by the sophisticated ad-serving technology Charter Communications planned to test market, I am pleased to hear that the company has decided to delay implementation of this program, which electronically profiled individual consumer Web usage. I urge other broadband companies considering similar user profiling programs to similarly hold off on implementation while these important privacy concerns can be addressed.”

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote a letter last month to Charter raising questions about whether the plan is in violation of a law that limits what cable companies can do with information about their customer. Both he and Markey met with Charter officials last week.

Bob Dykes, chief executive of NebuAd, said his firm still hoped to work with Charter to create a system that can be adopted. “It’s clear we need further education in Washington and elsewhere to address the concerns of privacy advocates,” Dykes said. The message that the technology protects privacy “hasn’t been understood by everyone.”

“Our customers are always our first priority,” Charter said a statement. “As such, we are not moving forward with the pilots at this time. We will continue to take a thoughtful, deliberate approach with the goal to ultimately structure an advertising service that enhances the Internet experience for our customers and addresses questions and concerns they’ve raised.”

NebuAd’s critics had likened the service to monitoring your phone call and far from not understanding that the technology as Bob Dykes chief executive of NebuAd wants you to believe, it’s clear to me that people did. Personalised advertising isn’t new, the dot com boom was full of this type of services offering personalisation of advertising, the difference being that it didn’t do it by tracking your web pages and hijacking your browser, if this was to be done by an individual, a company or a foreign country it would be tantamount to spying.

Sources: Wired, CNET, Washing Post, New York Times, Reuteurs