here’s a compelling and clearly stated value proposition: WE BUILT THE NETWORK. THIS IS HOW WE’RE GONNA DO BUSINESS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, GO USE ANOTHER NETWORK. THE END.

Obviously there are groups that want to push the limits of this new technology but the real point of this is to make the ads you are already exposed to more relevant.

The carriers are not doing this alone…they are not looking to hijack advertising or to modify content…they are and need to be doing this with the existing online ad ecosystem by working with ad server companies that already have relationships with ad networks and direct web publisher to make “existing inventory” more valuable

in your example of apple…these are the extreme cases. these tactics would be obvious and intrusive which would devalue ad inventory, squander enduser goodwill and thus defeat the economic inventive for carriers to participate in the online ad ecosystem.

I’m not defending the tactic…just sadden that it is playing out like this as if all parties would work together it could be a win-win. If educated properly I think many endusers would embrace this so they stop seeing these silly dancing insurance ads :)

In full disclosure I’ve worked in a DSL provider…I think implementing these types of programs could provide the economics to drive discounts, higher QoS and faster speeds. It is these types of programs that should give users more choices and lead to more interactive services from broadband providers such as IPTV, etc.

My point is that we need to stop straight chastising the carriers as it just emboldens their net neutrality stance and come up with solutions that leverages the power of the network. This stuff goes on all the time from the publisher/portal standpoint. Integrating it down to the network level can actually help insure better privacy and better opt-outs. I’m also very familiar with how these “black boxes” and software work in the network and they are much more conducive to avoiding PII than other types of profiling and targeting.

The carriers expect common carrier status when it comes to legal problems. The moment they begin to insert or modify content, they lose common carrier status. They modify content on a single website, and they are liable for ALL content because the reason will be given that they can and have.

(link)

Knowing how the software works, I actually might not mind participating in such a program, provided it actually works the way NebuAd’s CEO has laid out, and my carrier shared some of its windfall with me through a price discount of some sort or faster service. It’s no creepier than some of the ads I already see that know where I live.

If your worried about privacy Stacey write an Article about Google and for that matter dont use any Google services ,Twitter ,Facebook or any other service or online entity that tracks you and your data.

If your really paranoid use TOR or just stay off the internet ,phone ,street and out of view of the any number of cameras and satellites watching you at any time of the day ;)

Everyone using the Internet needs to realize that every piece of information they send (email, web cookies, Facebook message, IM, etc.) can be read and archived by dozens (if not hundreds) of organizations between your computer and the destination site.

While we can argue about US law and how the Internet is a different medium than phones and snail mail (both have some legal privacy protection), outside of the US things are considerably different. And you may never know that your information is passing through a foreign owned piece of equipment or country.

We should not be too alarmed about the lack of privacy on the Internet - it is the same paradigm for other forms of communication. Does FedEx scan your packages and read the contents before delivery (I truthfully don’t know but can’t find anyplace where they claim that privacy is maintained)?

Bottomline - if you want privacy for your communication on the Internet use encryption. Strong encryption. Otherwise expect that everything you type will be read and analyzed.

@vinnie mirchandani - you’re showing your age (as am I) :) :)

“I’m just an average man
With an slow web connection
I work from nine to five
to pay Comcast and Verizon
All I want is to be left alone
with my basic mobile phone
But why do I always feel
Like I’m in the twilight zone

And (I always feel like)
(The NSA’s watching me)
And I have no pennies or privacy
Whooooa-oh-oh
(I always feel like)
(Somebody’s watching me)
Tell me, is it just my ISP”

the amount of personal information that Google collects is far more problematic than the data being collected via vendors on behalf of ISPs.

from the network level you can now have a true opt out rather than questionable cookies.

if done properly and ad placement tactics are not intrusive we can have an enhanced user experience with more relevant ads.

this is a “commercial” solution for the net neutrality debate. i find it humorous that one day the press is in an uproar about programs like DPI for targeted advertising and then the next day upset about proposed metering broadband.

Of course the carriers, ISPs, etc need to be doing things to improve service, increase broadband speeds and reach to customer. And of course there needs to be a check and balance as to this level of targeting with defined and fully disclosed privacy measures but to condemn this practices without fully understanding the economics and ecosystem is irresponsible and actually stifles advancement…it is this type of alarmist reaction that causes a knee jerk reaction on the part of carriers to move forward with metered broadband pricing.

lets have a meaningful discussion on how these carriers/ISPs can participate in the advertising/application ecosystem such that all the players benefit from improved economics and the enduser experience is improved with more relevance.

If we DOS your website, do you have a load balancer to offload that DOS activity?

Comcast built the network. They can manage it how they want. If consumers don’t like it, they can go to another ISP or build their own ISP.