New York City-based ad sales firm Real Media Inc. said it has developed a
“privacy proxy” that is being integrated into the company’s Open Adstream ad
server software.
The privacy proxy sits on a site publisher’s server and acts as an
intermediary between a Web user and Real Media’s ad serving, the company said.
It allows the ad server to send its ads to appropriate targeted individuals
among a Web site’s users, but does not allow the ad server to collect
demographic information by placing cookies on those users’ computers, unless
authorized to do so. The users remain “anonymous,” yet ads targeted to their
demographic characteristics still reach them.
Without such a privacy feature, Real Media said, sites that get ads from other
ad serving firms are vulnerable to the possibility of having their proprietary
user data collected and resold without permission, leaving the sites’ in
violation of their privacy promises to users.
“Ad server software without ‘privacy proxies’ should be a major concern to
site publishers,” said Real Media President Dave Morgan. “User data is an
invaluable tool to assure accurate targeting of ads, but it cannot and must
not be allowed to disseminate without site authorization. If the ad server
companies use information recorded on cookies for other ad campaigns (not on
the publisher’s site), the publisher’s privacy safeguards have been
compromised.”
Real Media is a provider of ad management technology and software. The
company’s Open Ad
Stream product enables publishers to place advertising and dynamic content
across local or networked sites. In addition, Real Media operates a network of
more than 500 locally branded Web sites.
