IAB: Ad-tracking offers opportunities, not a threat
Recent concerns raised over ad-tracking should take into account the benefits it brings for consumers, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has suggested.
Worries have recently flared up that keeping tabs on the actions and interests of web surfers constitutes a breach of privacy, but IAB programs manager Jack Wallington emphasised that the information that is collected cannot be linked back to one individual.
"Lots of people just don’t like the idea of being monitored, but it does remain completely anonymous," he said.
"There isn’t one company monitoring what individuals are doing, it all goes into one bucket showing people doing similar things; it’s just trends basically."
Mr Wallington explained that social network sites such as Facebook can seem to know a great deal about their users, "but people have to remember that if this information is used inappropriately, because of the way the internet is set up it will be brought to attention and people will know about it".
He explained that this should protect users from being exploited by advertising firms and simply allow them to view advertising that is of use to them "instead of going onto a website and getting advertising that is completely irrelevant".
