Google tells Congress about DoubleClick cookie

Google is implementing a DoubleClick ad-serving cookie across its content network that will give advertisers new powers to target advertising. The cookie also gives users the ability to opt-out, the company told the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter released yesterday.

in the coming months we will enable industry standard functionality – available today via DoubleClick and many other ad serving technologies – on the Google content network. Among other things, we will enable advertisers to limit the number of times a user sees an ad through frequency capping. Users will have a better experience on Google content network sites because they will no longer see the same ad over and over again. In addition, we will provide reach and frequency reporting, which will provide insight into the number of people who have seen an ad campaign, and how many times, on average, people are seeing these ads. More details about these enhanced capabilities are available at googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-enhancements-on-google-content.html.

We are enabling this functionality by implementing a DoubleClick ad serving cookie across the Google content network. Using the DoubleClick cookie means that DoubleClick advertisers and publishers will not have to make any changes on their websites as we continue our integration efforts and offer additional enhancements. It also means that with one click, users can opt out of a single cookie for both DoubleClick ad serving and the Google content network. If a user has already opted out of the DoubleClick cookie, that opt-out will also automatically apply across the Google content network.

Google's letter praised the self-regulation approaches favored by the Federal Trade Commission but the revelations are sure to fuel Rep. Ed Markey's (R-MA) efforts to pass omnibus privacy legislation next year. The Washington Post quotes Markey:

Increasingly, there are no limits technologically as to what a company can do in terms of collecting information . . . and then selling it as a commodity to other providers. Our responsibility is to make sure that we create a law that, regardless of the technology, includes a set of legal guarantees that consumers have with respect to their information.

Microsoft and Yahoo also engage in behavioral targeting. Yahoo has said it will let users opt out. Microsoft hasn't yet responded to the committee.

Yahoo strongly believes that consumers want choice when customizing their online experience and they have also demonstrated a strong preference for advertising that is more personally relevant to them," Anne Toth, head of privacy and vice president for policy at Yahoo, said in a statement. "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."

None of this rises to the level of concern that deep-packet inspection raises. Broadband providers Knology and Cable One said they had tested technology from Nebu Ad without telling their customers about the tests. Washington Post-owned Cable One sadi it had no plans to go forward with Nebu Ad acknowledged that they recently ran tests using deep-packet-inspection technology provided by NebuAd to see whether it could help them serve up more relevant ads, but their customers were not explicitly alerted to the test. Cable One is owned by The Washington Post Co.

"However, if we do," a spokeswoman said, "we want people to be able to opt in."