NebuAd Inc., a company that sought to target ads to consumers based on their online behavior, is going out of business after facing scrutiny over whether its technology infringed on the privacy of Internet surfers.
In court filings this week, NebuAd said it has been winding down its business since last year. It laid off virtually all its employees in July and August, closing its office in Redwood City, Calif., in September. NebuAd once employed over 60 people.
NebuAd has “essentially ceased to exist,” according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
NebuAd’s clients – Internet service providers who wanted to share the ad revenue with NebuAd – started dropping out after Congress held hearings last July on the technology, which examined consumers’ Internet traffic to determine their interests. Although individual Web sites routinely target advertising, privacy advocates argu ed that NebuAd’s all-encompassing approach went too far, and said consumers’ overall Web surfing should be tracked only if they opted into the system.
Among the cable and phone operators that abandoned interest in NebuAd were Charter Communications Inc., Bresnan Communications LLC, The Washington Post Co.’s Cable One Inc. and Embarq Corp.
In Britain, a similar company called Phorm Inc. has also faced complaints since it struck partnerships with three access providers reaching 70 percent of Britain’s broadband market – BT Group PLC, Virgin Media Inc. and Carphone Warehouse Group PLC’s TalkTalk.
But Phorm spokesman Justin Griffiths said the company has retained its partners. BT has completed its trial of Phorm’s ad-targeting service and expects to deploy it this year.
Griffiths said Phorm asks consumers upfront after they log on whether they want to receive targeted ads. Griffiths added that the company has received assurances from the British governmen t that its technology “can be operated in a lawful manner.”
Even so, Richard Clayton from Internet think tank Foundation for Information Policy Research in Cambridge, England, believes Phorm is getting some snubs from potential partners.
“I haven’t seen any other ISPs queuing up to associate themselves with Phorm at all,” he said. “A number of smaller ones have said they won’t go anywhere near it.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More