MediaPost, Privacy:The More You Know
An industry coalition races to head off privacy regulation
When the startup NebuAd unveiled its behavioral targeting platform at the end of 2007, it’s safe to say the company had no inkling of the push back it was about to get from privacy advocates.
Former CEO Bob Dykes certainly seemed surprised to be hauled before Congress, where his company’s policies would be denounced as “contemptible.”
“I feel like Galileo when he was viewed with skepticism on demonstrating that the Earth revolved around the sun,” Dykes protested at one of several congressional hearings last summer. Dykes insisted the platform was privacy-friendly, but his spirited defense of NebuAd wasn’t enough to save the company. He resigned last year and NebuAd suspended its plan to purchase information about people’s Web activity from their broadband providers with the purpose of serving targeted ads.