• Insights
    • Exclusive Insights
    • Podcast
    • Articles
      • Advertising & Sales
      • Audience Development
      • Content Strategy
      • Digital Analytics
      • Digital Publishing
      • Monetization
      • SEO
      • Social Media
      • Technology
    • Top Tools & Reviews
    • Features
  • Education
    • Publisher SEO Course
  • Solutions
    • SEO for Publishers
    • Content Strategy Services
    • Brand Partner Solutions
  • Community
    • Slack Channel
    • Office Hours
    • Newsletter
  • About
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Policy
sodp logo
Search
Close this search box.
    SODP logo
    Login
    • Insights
      • Exclusive Insights
      • Podcast
      • Articles
        • Advertising & Sales
        • Audience Development
        • Content Strategy
        • Digital Analytics
        • Digital Publishing
        • Monetization
        • SEO
        • Social Media
        • Technology
      • Top Tools & Reviews
      • Features
        • Podcasts
        • Articles
        • Top Tools & Reviews
        • Features
        • Opinion
        • Advertising & Sales
        • Audience Development
        • Content Strategy
        • Digital Analytics
        • Digital Publishing
        • Insights
        • Monetization
        • SEO
        • Social Media
        • Technology
    • Education
      • Publisher SEO Course
        • Publisher SEO Course New
    • Solutions
      • SEO for Publishers
      • Content Strategy Services
      • Brand Partner Solutions
        • SEO For Publishers
        • Content Strategy Support
        • Brand Partner Solutions
    • Community
      • Slack Channel
      • Office Hours
      • Newsletter
        • Slack Channel
        • Office Hours
        • Newsletter
    • About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Editorial Policy
        • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Editorial Policy
    placeholder
    State of Digital Publishing Logo
    Home ▸ Opinion ▸ Website privacy options aren’t much of a choice since they’re hard to find and use

    Website privacy options aren’t much of a choice since they’re hard to find and use

    • Hana Habib Hana Habib
    November 5, 2019
    Fact checked by Vahe Arabian
    Vahe Arabian

    Founder and Editor in Chief of State of Digital Publishing. My vision is to provide digital publishing and media professionals a platform to collaborate and promote their efforts, my passion is to uncover talent and… Read more

    Edited by Vahe Arabian
    Vahe Arabian

    Founder and Editor in Chief of State of Digital Publishing. My vision is to provide digital publishing and media professionals a platform to collaborate and promote their efforts, my passion is to uncover talent and…Read more

    Bookmark (0)

    Please login to bookmark

    web privacy
    Hana Habib

    Hana Habib is currently a PhD student in the Societal Computing program at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Lorrie Faith Cranor. Hana's research interests span...Read more

    You’ve probably encountered a pair of shoes that won’t stop following you around the internet, appearing in advertisements on different sites for weeks.

    Today, the vast majority of advertising is targeted – that is, you see an ad because an advertiser thinks that you, specifically, might be interested in what they have to offer. You may have visited a store page for a pair of shoes, or maybe there’s something in your internet browsing history that places you in their target demographic.

    While many websites offer a way to opt out of targeted advertisements or unwanted emails, we discovered in our recent research that exercising privacy choices isn’t always easy. But that helped us formulate some simple solutions that could make things easier for users around the web.

    Anything but standardized

    Our team of research collaborators examined the privacy choices available on 150 English language websites. On each site, we searched for three common types of privacy choices: requests to be removed from – that is, opt out of – email marketing, opt-outs for targeted advertising and data deletion choices. For each privacy choice, we noted where on the website it was located and the steps required to exercise the choice.

    The good news is that most websites do offer relevant opt-outs or data deletion options. Eighty-nine percent of sites with email marketing or targeted advertising offered opt-outs for those practices, and 74% had a way for users to request their data be deleted.

    More good news: Nearly all websites had a privacy policy link on their homepage, and many of these policies included privacy choices.

    The bad news is that the privacy policies we surveyed were long – on average 3,951 words. They were difficult to read, with only one-third including a table of contents. These policies were written well above the eighth grade reading level considered appropriate for the general public. Worse, the sections containing privacy choices were even harder to read and understand than the rest of the policy, requiring university-level reading ability.

    Key terms aren’t standardized across privacy policies on different sites. When we examined privacy policy section headings, we looked for phrases that appeared in multiple policies, such as “your choices” and “opt out.” Unfortunately, we did not find much consistency.

    That makes it difficult for users to scan or search for key words or phrases that might help them understand their options. Users would benefit from standardized language across all websites that describes their privacy choices.

    Even when a user manages to find a site’s privacy choices, it may not be clear how to use them.

    We learned that some opt-out links, instead of leading to an opt-out tool, went to the homepage of an advertising industry association that hosts an opt-out tool, but elsewhere on the site. Other links were broken. Some policies contained multiple links to various advertising opt-outs, but the sites didn’t explain the differences between the links or whether a user would need to visit one or all of them.

    One particular website we encountered, Salesforce, linked to six different advertising opt-out tools. In our view, users should not have to parse a website’s complicated third-party relationships; the websites themselves should make it easy for users to opt out of targeted advertising, no matter who is serving it.

    Uncertain effects

    Once someone does manage to opt-out, it’s not always clear what will happen.

    Most websites we visited did not tell users exactly what they could opt out of. Some websites let users request to not be tracked for advertising, while others allow users to opt out of targeted advertising but not the tracking. In this case, a hypothetical shoe ad wouldn’t appear on the site, but the company advertising the shoes may learn that you visited the site.

    Only about half of the websites that offered opt-outs for targeted advertising explained whether opting out of seeing targeted ads also meant that users would not be tracked. Users might believe they are protecting themselves from tracking when in fact they are not.

    Even when the choices are clear, the pages are not always easy to use.

    For example, to opt out of all of Amazon’s email communications, we had to scroll past a list of 79 options before seeing the option to “opt out of all marketing.”

    At The New York Times, deleting the data they’d gathered on us required completing 38 different actions, including finding and reading the privacy policy, following the link to the data deletion request form, selecting a request type, selecting up to 22 check boxes, filling in eight form fields, selecting four additional confirmation boxes and completing an “I am not a robot” test.

    Even if these design decisions are unintentional, companies are effectively deterring their users from exercising privacy choices.

    Sites use their own language to signal to users where they might delete their data.
    Habib et al

    Consistency is key

    When it comes to digital privacy, we think consistency is key.

    Websites need to provide choices that are easy to find, understand and use. They should simplify things by offering one-click opt-out options that consolidate multiple links and dozens of options.

    It should go without saying that the opt-out links need to actually work.

    If websites offer users the ability to make fine-grained choices, it would be helpful to put them all in one place and adopt consistent terminology.

    Furthermore, websites need to clarify what opt-out options do.

    And perhaps most important, regulators should hold companies accountable not only for offering choices, but for choices that are specific and that consumers can actually use.

    [ You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]

    Hana Habib, Graduate Research Assistant at the Institute for Software Research, Carnegie Mellon University and Lorrie Cranor, Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    Publisher SEO - Related Modules

    Ads, Popups and Best Practices

    Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust (E-E-A-T)

    CTR analysis and optimizations

    View Publisher SEO Course
    Editor's Picks

    Google News SEO Guide

    Mobile Video Consumption Tech Trends

    What Is A Content Creator?

    Related Posts

    • firsty party
      Why Publishers and Advertisers Benefit from a Privacy-First Advertising Ecosystem
    • Tim Geenen Coverart
      The State of Privacy And Consent Management With Tim Geenen - S2 EP 8
    • BCW
      Prioritising Privacy: Why the Smartphone Industry Is Turning To Blockchain
    • revenue boost
      How Publishers Can Boost Revenue In The Pro-privacy Revolution

    Subscribe to receive a recap of our top stories in digital media.

    SODP logo

    State of Digital Publishing is creating a new publication and community for digital media and publishing professionals, in new media and technology.

    • About us
    • Contact us
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy policy
    • Sitemap
    • Newsletter
    • Publisher SEO course
    • Become a member
    • Slack community
    • SEO for publishers
    • Content strategy support
    • Partner with us
    • Podcast
    • SEO Office Hours
    • Editorial Office Hours
    Facebook Twitter Slack Linkedin

    STATE OF DIGITAL PUBLISHING – COPYRIGHT 2023

    PUBLISHERS, THESE 20+ TOOLS WILL SUPERCHARGE YOUR GROWTH

    Subscribe to our newsletter and receive the ultimate list of smart technologies and free resources to boost your publisher SEO and content efforts.

    Join 3,000+ publishers around the world and get exclusive tips and resources delivered to your inbox.

    Being a part of the SODP Community has made a real impact on my problem-solving at work. From bouncing off paywalls solution ideas to thinking about an SEO strategy for my paywall, it’s the most value-adding professional community I’m a part of.

    Yvette Dimiri, Head of Growth, Stears

    PUBLISHERS, THESE 20+ TOOLS WILL SUPERCHARGE YOUR GROWTH

    Subscribe to our newsletter and receive the ultimate list of smart technologies and free resources to boost your publisher SEO and content efforts.

    Join 3,000+ publishers around the world and get exclusive tips and resources delivered to your inbox.

    Being a part of the SODP Community has made a real impact on my problem-solving at work. From bouncing off paywalls solution ideas to thinking about an SEO strategy for my paywall, it’s the most value-adding professional community I’m a part of.

    Yvette Dimiri, Head of Growth, Stears