Do Not Track may not be big deal to some Internet users

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
There's one pivotal question that the nation's major online marketers want to know about the proposed "Do Not Track" tool for Internet users: Just how big could it really get?

"If consumers were to (use Do Not Track), en masse, the industry could take an enormous hit," says Abbey Klaassen, editor of trade publication Advertising Age.

Do Not Track is a Web browser tool proposed earlier this week by the Federal Trade Commission that would prevent advertisers and marketers from tracking the Internet browsing habits of consumers.

Marketers find these habits valuable to know, which is why online ad revenue continues on a tear — up nearly 12% for the first half of 2010 to $12.1 billion, reports the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

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EARLIER: U.S. seeks 'Do Not Track' online privacy measure

But there's wide disagreement — both inside and outside the industry — about how far-reaching this proposed consumer privacy tool could be.

Some key factors in play:

•It's not like a phone call at dinner. It sounds creepy to many consumers that information about the things they do and buy online is being collected — and sometimes sold — by marketers. But it's not as irritating as the unwanted phone call at dinner or in the middle of your favorite TV show. "It doesn't interrupt your family time, so there's not as much of an uproar over it," Klaassen says.

•Younger folks are used to sharing information. Call it the Facebook effect. Younger consumers are more comfortable than are their parents about sharing a great deal of information online, says Scott Shackelford, professor of law at Indiana University, who is writing a book on privacy. So, Millennials may be far less interested in a Do Not Track list, he says.

•Do Not Track could ultimately benefit some marketers. When people feel their privacy is gone or threatened, they typically become "unhappy, agitated and not very good consumers," says Janna Malamud Smith, author of Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life. If consumers feel more at ease about privacy, she says, they'll probably buy more.

•It could create a super-class of consumers. Websites make money by convincing advertisers that they've got the most valuable and targeted audience for them. Under a new Do Not Track system, those consumers who opt-in to specific websites would become "an extremely valuable audience," says Evan Hendricks, editor of Privacy Times newsletter.

•It would lead to heftier incentives. Online marketers would have to find more substantive ways to coax consumers to let themselves be tracked, says Katy Bachman, senior editor at Mediaweek. Under Do Not Track, consumers would likely get better or more free stuff for signing up, she says.