Consumer fears over ad targeting threaten ISPs

[Peter Fairbrother]

Richard Clayton wrote:
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> A churn of 65% of the users of the UK's top 3 ISPs would have a
> considerable impact upon the industry....
> 
> ... this was just an online survey of 1000 adults, but still ...
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> http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/38754/Consumer+fears+over+ad+targeting+thr
> eaten+ISPs.html
> 
> UK consumers have a deep mistrust of behavioural targeting and would
> ditch ISPs using it, research commissioned by NMA has found.
> 
> The report discovered almost two-thirds (65%) of UK adults would leave
> their ISP if it introduced behavioural targeting, 

While I'd like to believe that would happen, I don't.

The commercial and administrative aspects of changing ISP aren't that 
difficult these days, despite contracts with defined lifetimes, and the 
new ISP will often do all the work for you - but the real problem is you 
have to change your email address too.

I don't have a satisfactory solution for that one.

Using either free email addresses or your own email address - and 
sometimes an ISP will not allow this, limiting port 25 traffic to their 
own server - is okay, but has to be done in advance or as a general 
practice.

Maybe if you have an email address eg peterfairbrother@BT.com (not a 
real address) assigned by BT then OFCOM or someone could require that BT 
maintain that address and forward email, perhaps for a fee in the £5 per 
annum range? A bit like telephone numbers, you can often keep them 
despite changing telephone service provider.

-- Peter Fairbrother

while 81% were in
> favour of opting out from receiving targeted online advertising.
> 
> Just 20% of consumers trust their ISP to protect their privacy.
> 
> [etc]
> 
> - -- 
> richard                                              Richard Clayton
> 
> They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.         Benjamin Franklin
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