IP: Boomerang

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

From: "Thomas Newbold" <tomn@terminal.cz>
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>
>Hi Dave,
>I can't remember whether "Boomerang" has already been covered on the IP
>list, but the following is an excerpt from the WSJ Interactive.  Scary
>stuff.  Good to see that companies like Discover are carefully thinking
>through the implications of the use of such invasive technologies.
>
>Incidentally, if you haven't already, you might want to check out interMute
>(www.interMute.com), a great filtering program that puts the controls
>(including cookies, ads, referrers, etc) back in your hands.  I am a devoted
>user of interMute, but otherwise have no connection with them.
>
>Cheers,
>Tom Newbold
>tnewbold@thelocalscene.com
>http://thelocalscene.com
>http://www.indiebands.com
>
>
><snip>
>Cookie Trail
>
>Craftier techniques are about to arrive. Many Web sites already tag
>visitors' computers with small files, known as "cookies," that help identify
>users on return visits. If they never come back, though, they vanish. No
>more. Starting next year, DoubleClick will introduce powerful software that
>will let advertisers spot those visitors weeks later on other Web sites.
>Then people can be greeted with more ads for the original merchant.
>
>On a recent morning, Mr. Nethercutt and several DoubleClick colleagues
>introduce this new service to Lot21 Interactive, a San Francisco ad agency
>representing the NationsBank unit of BankAmerica Corp. It is clear that the
>new service, called Boomerang, is enticing. When DoubleClick executives
>briefly fumble about quoting a price for the service, a Lot21 executive
>chides them: "Come on, I brought my checkbook for you."
>
>Boomerang gets a chillier reception on Mr. Nethercutt's next stop. "I'm
>worried about a privacy issue here," says Elizabeth Duff, a marketing
>manager for the Discover brokerage unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
>Customers might be uneasy about so many of their online habits being shared
>with strangers, she says. Her bosses give her a lot of leeway to try new
>ideas in cyberspace, she says, but they don't ever want to find Discover in
>hot water over its business practices.
>
><snip>
>
>
>https://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB912379479448597000.htm
>

_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber         
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania 
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber