What's Shakin'?

First, an introduction. I'm James, co-founder and CEO of Price Protectr. I've been promising Dave for months that I would blog, so he finally called me out. I hope this post is useful to you, and I look forward to your feedback.

I want to thank everyone who has been using Price Protectr. We're proud of our user focus, transparency, reliability, and the way we keep our promises. Months ago Dave introduced "Two for Tuesday", and sure enough we have added two new retailers every week ever since. The Toolbar has gotten lots of use, and we encourage you to share this valuable tool with your friends. We've been growing steadily, and we have some exciting developments coming soon.

It's pretty strange when I see ads clearly targeting me when I haven't even entered a search term related to the ads. Many of you already know that major ad networks are finding ways of getting you to accept cookies that follow you around as you surf the internet. The ad people are calling it Behavioral Advertising. While we're all in favor of relevant content, shouldn't it be delivered in a way that is transparent to the internet user?

Here at Price Protectr, we're big supporters of opt-in, not opt-out. In other words, advertisers should let you know what you're getting into BEFORE you start providing them with your browsing habits.

Here's an easy way to see what I mean. Below you'll find a link to a website by the Network Advertising Initiative. The site checks your browser for cookies placed by the ad networks and allows you to opt-out. I used the site and I found out I had SEVEN cookies I didn't know about, and I empty my cache every session (I use Firefox). FYI, Safari users have a default setting that generally prevents cookies.

In the meantime, check it out and see how many cookies you've been harboring.

http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

Interesting to note: it uses a cookie to log your decision to opt-0ut. If you delete the cookie, you have to opt-out again later.

We hope NAI will be even more proactive in helping the consumer control their online experience, and in protecting online privacy.

Hopefully, the day will come soon when you can get relevant, targeted, opt-in advertising messages through a transparent, opt-in service. A complete shopping companion, if you will. We think Lowlo likes the idea, and we hope you do, too. Watch this space for developments soon...