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Letís be the íspyí who loved Me

If you are remotely interested in the field of personalization or targeting, then youíve surely been hearing about The Wall Street Journalís series What They Know, which it proclaims is a look at how ìmarketers are spying on Internet users ñ observing and remembering peopleís clicks, and building and selling detailed dossiers of their activities and interests.î

The use of language like ìspyingî and ìsurveillance technologyî and ìsurreptitiouslyî has been attacked by some, such as Jeff Jarvis in his post on ìCookie Madness.î But if you get beyond the scare tactic language and over-the-top talk about what the Journalís ìinvestigationî has learned, the series can be a useful introduction to a complex world that needs more light.

We agree with BlueKai CEO Omar Tawakol, who wrote in Advertising Age that the industry needs to be more open about tracking. ìWe need a less polarizing discussion,î Tawakol wrote.

Erin Jo Richey, a digital marketing analyst, sought to be more open in a piece she wrote for Ad Age and in more detail on her blog: ìSince I believe that more people should become familiar with internet technologies and with web analytics, allow me to continue the Wall Street Journalís discussion and fill in a few more details.î

And Cato Instituteís director of information policy studies, Jim Harper, noted: ìThough cookiesóand debate about their privacy consequencesóhave been around for a long time, many people donít know even the basics.î

Transparency and openness are key to the approach DailyMe has taken with our Newstogram platform. On DailyMe, you can see the profile we maintain of your news interests by clicking on the My Newstogram link on the left rail. On this page, you also can opt out of tracking, if you wish. Weíll soon be rolling out similar pages for partner sites that use Newstogram to personalize content.

In the coming weeks, weíll be adding to this blog additional information on cookies, tracking and privacy. We hope youíll share with us your thoughts here.