EU Investigates targeted Ads....glad someone is being sensible here

It's no secret that we believe the unsubtle application of targeted Ads by the current "Generation 1" players is both an unacceptable invasion of users privacy, and also not commercially sustainable. What has worried us is the lack of any serious challengers to the rush to pillage our online relationships - until now. The EU is taking an interest:

Recommendations from the working party have been used by the European Commission to get Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to curtail the amount of time it stored past Web searches to 18 months.

We noted at the time that Google had no reason to keep data that far back at all, if the purported uses were as claimed, but Facebook's recent actions - and the backlash - have heightened concern:

Brussels' heightened awareness comes as more than 13,000 Facebook users have signed a petition protesting against the networking site's new advertising system which alerts members of friends' purchases online.

Addendum - we also believe therefore (as do others) that the correct approach for Facebook, to show good faith, is to move to "Gold Standard" - ie Opt In - as soon as possible, to take the heat out of the backlash. The temptation to "hard monetise" should be resisted as it is - in our view - no longer tenable given the potential it has to drive regulatory opposition (and actually drive lower value in the medium term).

There is increasing concern in the EU as well that some of the recent actions by players such as Facebook also contravene European Data Protection Laws....and with some reason. For example, this blog was thrown off Facebook a week ago (see here) and we still have had no information about whether our data on the site will be deleted (which is required by EU law) or not.

In a related move, the UK's Information Commissioner has issued a warning about putting data on Social Nets, and is starting a new website to get kids more aware. Pointing to confusing youth behaviour - in surveys 71% don't want employers trawling social nets, 95% don't want advertisers to get their details, yet they seem to blithely input all sorts of personal data on the sites - deputy commissioner David Smith notes:

"We have to help teenagers wise up to every aspect of the internet age they're living in. It may be fun but unfortunately it is not the safe space many think it is."

The problem responsible Advertisers have is that there is a "tragedy of the commons" effect going on - the irresponsible Advores will pile in now, make whatever money is on the table, but create the customer and regulatory backlash that will destroy value for all ongoing. "Tragedy of Commons" situations typically tend to only stop when the ecosystem collapses.

Thus, this may sound strange, but a "Deus Ex Machina" in the form of regulation may be good for the Ad industry overall.