Introducing The Privacy Cops

The Privacy Cops blog is our privacy call-to-action for industry thought leaders, consumers, advertisers, and ISPs. We want privacy pundits and skeptics alike, to own up, to weigh-in, and most of all, to engage in a necessary debate about how Internet users globally are being put at risk against the current lack of actionable privacy measures. Most importantly we want users online to provide feedback and comments on online privacy.

In the coming months, we hope to discuss questions such as: Who should control user data online? Users? Websites? ISPs? How can we as Internet users gain control of our own destiny online? How can we decide what data is offered up to third parties?

We welcome all of your feedback and hope that this discussion will be both productive & fun.

So Who’s behind this? AnchorFree.
At AnchorFree, we’re passionate about Internet users’ ability to consume the Internet freely, unencumbered by artificial boundaries, and free from privacy violations. Hence, the name, “AnchorFree”!

We realize that consumers’ private information represents the greatest source of value on the Internet today, and that the mining of this information is still in its infancy. As such, companies are racing to grab your personal data in a quest to capture a piece of the projected $50 billion online ad market. It is extremely important that although online advertising can be effective (and in many cases delivers value to consumers), data about personal interests & web habits should be controlled by users themselves.

Why should we care?
The largest search engine/ad network on the planet just announced a new browser that logs keystrokes and IP addresses. Other companies have emerged to intercept data between your home computer and your ISP to build profiles on you. The trend is clear; new and enabling technologies have made it easier and easier to “listen” to each and every move internet users make – and this data is worth a lot.

It is exactly these sets of change agents, economically driven, that represent a multi-billion dollar opportunity — and exactly the influences driving some organizations into objectionable privacy practices.

The case for change
That’s where AnchorFree fits in – we don’t believe the industry has been able or willing to address consumer privacy as it relates to advertising. As a company that prides itself on empowering consumers with powerful technology, we have created an advertising model where we do “eat our own dog food”. We consider ourselves a case study for change and model for providing relevant advertising without sacrificing user privacy. Our vision, put simply, is to empower consumers in choosing what information of theirs is utilized for profit and ensuring that they have the ability to control and participate in it’s economic value.

Tell us what you think
So now you know about our background and inspiration for this blog. Moving forward, you won’t read much more about us, as we really want this to serve as a forum to discuss and work together to publicly address the issues and concerns around online privacy.

So come join us here forth – let us know what you think about consumer rights, advertiser rights, ISP rights. What really makes you mad about consumer privacy and the Internet? What new technologies do you use in your daily life online that impact your control over your own data? How could we (Internet users) shape the online information world to provide us relevant content, without taking away our ownership of our personal data?

We look forward hearing from you.

Thanks!
The AnchorFree Team

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