14 DAY TRIAL // The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent an inquiry to Yahoo! and other Internet companies, expecting answers related to the targeted ads and their influence over people's right to privacy. Yahoo! saw this as a great opportunity to reveal that it has introduced an option offering users the possibility to opt-out of the targeted advertising system.
Until now, users were offered ads that tallied with their online behavior. For example, if someone spent most of their time on the Internet navigating on cosmetic products websites, they were most likely to be displayed ads of beauty parlors or spa resorts. Starting with the end of August, users will have the possibility to opt for general ads, which might cause conspiracy theorists or people who just don't like their information to be made public to breathe a sigh of relief.
Yahoo! expresses its belief that most of the people would still prefer to receive customized ads, which can, indeed, be of help. "However, we understand that there are some users who prefer not to receive customized advertising and this opt-out will offer them even greater choice." says Anne Toth, head of privacy and VP for policy at Yahoo!
Until now, the option to receive random ads instead of personalized ones was only available to some of Yahoo!'s partner websites that were provided with advertising content by the Sunnyvale company. The implementation of the opt-out will now be made for all of Yahoo!'s sites. Users will have access to the option from the privacy link, which is displayed on nearly every Yahoo! page. Yet, the company explains to users that their activity data is necessary for a couple of good reasons, such as stopping fraudulent activities or granting the opportunity to provide law enforcement institutions with useful information, whenever the situation requires it.
Certainly all parties concerned benefit from the decision. The House Energy and Commerce Committee should be pleased with Yahoo!'s answer, users feel like their options really matter, while the Sunnyvale company still gets to display as many ads as before, the only difference being that some of them will not be targeted anymore.