Subject: [http-state] fyi: Interactive Advertising Bureau - The Future of the Cookie

From: =JeffH <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:28:28 -0800

Just an fyi/fwiw.  The slides..

   http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/14132478

..have a bit more detail on their thoughts wrt process and schedule. AFAIK this 
is a iab.net (Interactive Advertising Bureau) membership-only effort at this time.

=JeffH
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The Future of the Cookie
By Jordan Mitchell on October 16, 2012 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments
https://www.iab.net/iablog/2012/10/the-future-of-the-cookie.html

As someone who’s been involved with web-based software development since before 
Netscape went public, I can confidently say that the use of cookies has gotten 
out of hand.

Originally designed for simple, temporary data storage, the cookie now forms a 
fundamental infrastructure of the Internet; it’s used for user profiling, 
segmentation and optimization, targeting and retargeting, mapping user IDs 
between platforms, buying and selling of data, end-user privacy controls, 
frequency capping of ads, web analytics, online advertising attribution and 
verification, session management, shopping cart management…and the list goes on.

The problem—speaking from a Product Manager perspective—is that the use cases 
and requirements for a persistent and anonymous online tracking mechanism have 
long surpassed the capabilities of the cookie. The square peg has been hammered 
into the round hole for too many years, evidenced by numerous issues experienced 
by online publishers, consumers, and the online ad industry as a whole.

For online publishers, the proliferation of 3rd-party pixels has slowed page 
load times, increased discrepancy counts, and led to concerns of data leakage. 
It’s also encouraged a broken compensation model—publishers risk revenue loss if 
they don’t support 3rd-party pixels, revenue loss from users who block or delete 
cookies, and a tilted playing field favoring large consumer website brands who 
can track users for longer periods of time. And publishers are certain to 
experience additional operational and privacy policy burdens as various 
initiatives such as Do Not Track, browser opt-in defaults, and regulatory 
measures gain traction.

For the ad industry as a whole, the reliance on cookies (and 3rd-party pixels) 
combined with the magnitude of cookie deletion (churn) has resulted in a battle 
between a rapidly degrading economic model, and the costly, persistent, and 
high-volume deployment of cookies. Even though cookies are unreliable as a user 
tracking mechanism (especially across devices), the industry continues to deploy 
them at an escalating pace, causing excessive network traffic and related costs, 
“internet bloat,” regulatory threats, and anxiety among consumers and publishers 
alike.

But there is a future for the cookie and an opportunity to turn the industry’s 
most negative issue into a positive (or at least a neutral) one that will result 
in a win/win/win for publishers, consumers, and advertisers. Along with Philip 
Smolin (Turn), Susan Pierce (Google), Amy Kuznicki (Verizon Wireless) and Brian 
Murphy (AOL), I’m proud to be co-chairing an ambitious IAB Advertising 
Technology Council initiative called The Future of the Cookie along with the 
IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence.

We’re recruiting leaders from the top companies in the digital advertising 
industry to join us in a mission to discuss and propose responsible solutions to 
the problems that exist today—and then execute a plan that leads us into the 
future of online user tracking, transparency, and control. So if you’re a 
technology-oriented thought leader, please consider participating! (If 
interested, please email [email-masked])