WSJ: Study: Usability Issues Plague Tools that Limit Online Behavioral Advertising

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/10/31/study-usability-issues-plague-tools-that-limit-online-behavioral-advertising/

October 31, 2011

Study: Usability Issues Plague Tools that Limit Online Behavioral Advertising

By Tom Loftus

A study found serious usability flaws in tools built to help users opt-out from online tracking.

Instead of helping consumers limit websites, advertisers and others from collecting information about their web browsing behavior, the Carnegie Mellon University study found that the tools were more likely to cause confusion and, at times, accomplish the opposite of what the user intended. At fault: jargon-heavy instructions and default settings not geared towards the average user. Many of the 45 participants also experienced difficulty installing and configuring the tools.

"On the usability front it is pretty bad news," said study coordinator Lorrie Faith Cranor, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's department of Computer Science and Engineering & Public Policy. "I was actually somewhat surprised about how difficult it was for everybody."

The study tested nine tools, ranging from so called opt-out tools that allow users to select and opt-out of advertising networks to privacy settings available on web browsers to blocking tools, where users explicitly choose the websites they want to block. Participants were asked to install and then configure the tool according to study specifications. They were then asked to perform basic web browsing tasks that tested their knowledge of the tools.

"None of the nine tools we tested empowered study participants to effectively control tracking and behavioral advertising according to their personal preferences," the study reported.

The tools tested were: DAA Consumer Choice; Evidon Global Opt-Out, PrivacyMark; Ghostery 2.5.3; TACO 4.0; Adblock Plus 1.3.9; IE9 Tracking Protection and the privacy options on the web browsers Mozilla Firefox 5 and Internet Explorer 9.

The study, although small, calls into question the effectiveness of efforts to help users stem the interception of their web browsing activities by the fast-growing online-tracking industry which uses such data to create customized web advertising, called online behavioral advertising. The practice has attracted the attention of the FTC, which last year called for the creation of a do-not-track system. A half-dozen privacy bills have been introduced on Capitol Hill this year.

In August, the Wall Street Journal reported on the spread of advanced tracking techniques, called "supercookies," which are almost impossible for computer users to detect. The Carnegie Mellon study exposed numerous usability problems.

Some tools Evidon Global Opt-Out allow users to select which advertising companies to block or opt out of. But the study found that because participants could not recognize the majority of these companies--which often are not household names--they were unable to set up a meaningful list on a per-company basis. Often times, said Cranor, they chose to block everything.

Most tools failed at providing sufficient feedback, the report found, with participants unsure whether opt-out was working. "Participants who tested the browser cookie settings also had no mechanism for understanding what was happening behind the scenes unless websites didn't work," the report found.

Other problems included confusing tool default settings and a propensity for jargon. One tool, Ghostery 2.5.3, used the following terms: Web Tracker, Web Bug, FlashCookie, Silverlight Cookie, Tracking Cookie, Script, IFrame, and Targeted Ad Network. The study noted that the "distinction was meaningless to participants."

Many participants told Cranor said that had set up their tool to prevent tracking, using the tools to prevent advertisers from collecting information on their web browsing activity. But Cranor told Digits that the participants often failed. In several cases participants thought they were adding extra security, by removing all of their machines' cookies, the small files placed on a computer by websites for tracking purposes. But the action ended up removing the opt-out cookie placed on their machine by the opt-out tool.

On the plus side, participants said that TACO 4.0 and Evidon provided a diverse list of privacy features, although the number of features and the required configuration proved overwhelming. Participants found Ghostery, IE9 Tracking Protection and the privacy options from Mozilla and Internet Explorer easy to install or activate. Again, configuration proved to be a challenge.

Participants were chosen based on their familiarity with computers. They were not computer scientists, said Cranor, but they reported daily interaction.

Cranor who teaches a graduate level class on privacy and security recalled a session where one classmember mentioned that the web browser Safari had a do not track feature available. No one in the class could locate the function. "We ended up asking the person, 'Can you just tell us where it is?'," she said.

"Some tools are difficult even for experts to use."