• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
    • SEO Expert Witness
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Email Newsletter

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

SEMrush

Home » Advertising » Chitika Settles with FTC Over Behavioral Ad Targeting

Chitika Settles with FTC Over Behavioral Ad Targeting

Posted on March 14, 2011 Written by Bill Hartzer

Chitika has reached a settlement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) over online advertising. The complaint by the FTC was about behavioral ad targeting. Individuals could opt out of Chitika’s behavioral ad targeting. Apparently Chitika had mistakenly set the opt out to 10 days rather than 10 years.

Chitika offers a search-targeted advertising solution to web publishers. They deliver interactive text ads relevant to what your users are searching for. Many web publishers (web site owners) consider Chitika an alternative to the Google AdSense program.

According to ClickZ, “The FTC alleges that the company’s opt-out cookies were set to expire after 10 days, rendering them useless at that point. As a result of the settlement, the company within 30 days is required to provide a tool enabling opt-out from collecting data that could be tied to a user or includes a unique identifier. The tool must enable opt-out through no more than one click, and it must maintain opt-outs for a minimum of five years.”

Prior to March 1, 2010, an error in Chitika’s opt-out process mistakenly set opt outs to expire in 10 days rather than the intended 10 years. Since March 1, 2010, Chitika’s option to opt out of any behavioral targeting is a 10-year opt-out.

The following is Chitika’s prepared statement about the settlement:

This morning Chitika, Inc. reached a settlement with the FTC regarding online ad targeting. Chitika places the utmost importance on the privacy of online users. The company believes the agreement will help it continue to place a premium on privacy as its advertising network continues to expand.

— Chitika does not collect and has never collected any personally identifiable information (PII) for ad targeting purposes.
— Since March 1, 2010, Chitika’s option to opt out of any behavioral targeting is a 10-year opt-out.
— Prior to March 1, 2010, an error in Chitika’s opt-out process mistakenly set opt outs to expire in 10 days rather than the intended 10 years.
— The FTC brought this bug to Chitika’s attention in February, 2010; on March 1, the company had fixed it to opt out users for ten years.
— May 2008 through February 2010, the period during which our opt-out process was affected by this bug, Chitika received an average of 30 opt-out requests per month across our international network compared to over 450 million monthly unique users.

Chitika believes very strongly in Internet users’ privacy. Its advertising network is built on the idea that you can protect privacy by never collecting PII and actually have a better, more efficient ad product.

“Personally identifiable information is of no interest to me whatsoever,” says Chitika CEO and founder Venkat Kolluri. “Our advertisements only worry about what you want, not who you are.”

Chitika’s targeting consists of data such as browser, search engine, and search keywords, all of which allow the company to provide the most appropriate possible advertisements without collecting any data which could be used to identify an individual user. The company continues to believe that non-PII data is a targeting method that is best for not only users, but also advertisers and publishers.

Filed Under: Advertising

SEMrush

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is CEO of Hartzer Consulting, LLC, an SEO Consulting firm that includes services such as search engine optimization, technical SEO audits, domain name consulting, and online reputation management.

Recent Posts

  • Someone Stole My Domain Name: Here’s What You Do January 4, 2023
  • Web Hosting Services Market to Grow to $254.86 Billion by 2029 December 13, 2022
  • This SEO Blog Post Was Written by ChatGPT December 8, 2022
  • Facebook Rolling Out Facebook Articles December 7, 2022
  • Doing SEO is Better Than… December 6, 2022
  • Tucows and GoDaddy Report Q3 2022 Results November 6, 2022
  • How to Measure App Events Sourced by Organic Search and SEO September 20, 2022
  • Google Allegedly Eavesdrops and Monitors the Brain 24 hours a Day to Control Humanity September 14, 2022
  • Why You Shouldn’t Hire SEOs Based on An Email September 13, 2022
  • Global SEO Market to Reach $122.11 Billion by 2028 September 9, 2022
  • Bluehost Launches New Commerce Solutions for WordPress September 8, 2022
  • Which CMS? How to Choose the Best CMS for Your Purposes August 29, 2022
  • Accidental SEO Manager: Interview with Ash Nallawalla August 15, 2022
  • Sometimes Google Isn’t Family Friendly August 1, 2022
  • Something’s Seriously Wrong with Facebook Notifications July 12, 2022
  • Facebook Internet Tracking Settlement June 24, 2022
  • RankSense Acquired by SEOClarity June 1, 2022
  • LinkedIn Links, Digital Marketing News, and SEO Questions Answered May 9, 2022
  • GoDaddy Ending Forwarding of Existing Shortened Links May 5, 2022
  • 7 Ways to Protect Your Domain Name March 31, 2022

US Agency Awards Judge

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:



Industry Friends

I Love SEO
WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Phil Drinkwater
Dixon Jones
Brian Hartzer
Navah Hopkins

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (19)
  • Bing Search Engine (6)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Branding (12)
  • Domain Names (209)
  • Google (236)
  • Internet Marketing (25)
  • Internet Usage (85)
  • Link Building (53)
  • Local Search (39)
  • Marketing (180)
  • Marketing Foo (30)
  • Pay Per Click (3)
  • Podcast (18)
  • Public Relations (8)
  • Reputation Management (9)
  • Search Engine Marketing (44)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (48)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (19)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (164)
  • Search Engines (204)
  • Social Media (192)
  • Tech (7)
  • Web Analytics (17)
  • Webinars (1)

Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.




Hartzer Consulting



Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2023 ·