I think there are many more sites in many more industries doing this as Karen alluded.

Thank you for your response. I can see more what your point is, and as I understand it, you are saying that the rest of the industry should allow opt out as well.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like the provider of advertising via the expedia route is allowing you to opt out, so you are not saddled with opting out if each of their customers’ websites, which is good.

Infortunately, we have to either have ads or pay money. At the moment, I’m willing to put up with the ads. I don’t click them often because I only click them when they interest me.

Orbitz were the nasty ones who used popup ads when everyone hated them – and to this day, I have not used their site.

I’ve used expedia a few times and I’ve never had a problem with anything they’ve sold me. I needed some clarification on one occasion, which they helped with. I don’t have any quibbles with them. Mostly, I use hotel and airline sites directly though. I do almost all of my travel bookings online. Sometimes I make a mistake – and then either I can get it fixed or I have to pay for it. Both have happened.

However, they are going to have a hard time monitoring my travel habits.

Thank you for all of your well written articles.

Karen – I don’t know if you have very targeted ads or if their is adware on your machine. You might want to scan your machine.

The idea of customizing advertisements sent to you on the web is not the upsetting part to me, nor is the potential sale of my buying habits. The problem is the way it’s done.

Expedia is doing it one way, while much of the industry is doing it another, and industry spokesman Dan Jaffe sees nothing wrong with what the industry is doing.

Expedia has publicly announced their program to sell this data to advertisers. Not only that, Expedia is allowing their customers to “opt-out” of the program.

On the other hand, we have other travel websites and at least one travel search engine which is secretly selling data on your buying habits and not giving you the opportunity to “opt-out.”

There are privacy issues as pointed out as pointed out by the New York State Consumer Protection Board, and others. Mr. Jaffe and the ANA speaking for the industry think these adds definitely benefit the Internet public, and that their methods are benign. They think its enough for the industry to police itself and they don’t want to permit you to “opt out” of their advertising program. That sends big red flags up my flag pole. (We saw what happened when the banking industry was policing itself with little intervention from government watchdogs.)

I think my basic question to Mr. Jaffe speaking to the industry still stands. If behavioral advertising is so valuable to the consumer, why are you afraid they’ll opt out?

There are issues – what if I am checking airfares for someone else, and I have no interest in the place – but end up getting ads for it…

We often look at things from the consumer perspective. Advertisers probably want to spend their dollars the most effective way possible.