You’ve likely heard a lot of talk about online privacy and how your activity is being used; both in the local and national news. While the conversations are inciting some fear in Internet users (people like you, reading this blog right now), this legislation will be business as usual. The new rules are to repeal rules that have not yet been enacted. You can read more about that from a recent PBS report.
Gathering the Data
As a digital marketing firm, we rely on data collected by ISP’s (Internet Service Providers), Social Networks, Search Engines, and websites to effectively execute our online advertising campaigns. And while that is a benefit for our clients, it also provides a benefit to you. By using ISP provided data, you receive a better, more intuitive browsing experience.
- The websites you’re trying to open will load faster.
- The searches that you perform (both within the search engines and outside of them) will provide more accurate results.
- The ads that you see on websites, in your mobile apps, and within videos will be geared to your interests, items you are shopping for, and your lifestage. For example, your teenager has no need for ads talking about Cialis. But they would be interested in ads talking about newly released movies.
Our Responsibility
To be fair, access to this information puts an added responsibility on the advertisers and media companies such as us at KeyMedia Solutions. If we’re developing and serving you ads that are timely, relevant, and interesting, then you have a better online experience – one that may even border on entertaining. Ads are not all bad, after all.
Additionally, there is a greater responsibility to ensure that the information gathered complies with PII (Personally Identifiable Information) rules and that we, advertising entities, act ethically in our daily interactions online. While there will likely be a few companies with malicious intent, the majority of digital marketing firms such as KeyMedia Solutions are happy to comply with the laws and protect individual privacy.
If you’re concerned about your privacy while surfing the internet, there are a few tips that will allow you to sleep a bit better at night.
- Start by checking your internet providers Privacy Policy. Learn what information they collect and what they do with that information. Once you have this information, you can decide which provider is the best for you.
- Use the “private browsing” option in your browser when surfing. This will significantly limit the data that your internet service provider and websites will be able to track.
- Browse secure sites whenever possible; this is denoted with an HTTPS:// before the website URL. This is especially critical when shopping online or providing personal information.
- Check your browser’s privacy settings to see if there is a tracking protection service available.
- Delete or clear your browsing cookies consistently.
Enjoy Your Online Experience
Overall, the World Wide Web makes our lives better and is not something that we’re willing to give up anytime soon. So, apply a little common sense and caution and remember that there’s no expectation of privacy on the internet. Everything you type, send, share, or like online can be found, so censor yourself and don’t do anything online that you wouldn’t do or say offline.
If you’d like to learn more about the data that we have available for marketing purposes and how it is used, we’d be happy to have a deeper conversation. Email or call us today.