targeted advertising

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It's a '5-Alarm Fire' for Tax-Prep Firms
It's a '5-Alarm Fire'
for Tax-Prep Firms
NEW REPORT
Jul 12, 2023 11:40 AM CDT

It's a '5-Alarm Fire' for Tax-Prep Firms

H&R Block, others allegedly shared millions of taxpayers' private info with tech firms

(Newser) - Members of Congress are calling for criminal charges against some of America's largest tax-prep companies for allegedly sharing tens of millions of taxpayers' legally protected data with Google and Meta. As far back as 2011, H&R Block, TaxSlayer, and TaxAct allegedly shared private information entered into its website...

Agency You Might Not Expect Goes After Facebook
Agency You Might Not Expect
Goes After Facebook
the rundown
Mar 28, 2019 10:35 AM CDT

Agency You Might Not Expect Goes After Facebook

Housing and Urban Development accuses company of aiding housing discrimination

(Newser) - The feds are going after Facebook, but the agency involved might not be the first that would come to mind: the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As the Hill explains, Ben Carson's HUD has filed charges leveling the serious accusation that the company is violating the Fair Housing...

Get Ready for New Ads in Your Facebook App

Other companies' apps will be touted in your mobile News Feed

(Newser) - Could this be the way to solve Facebook's mobile revenue woes ? The company will soon offer a new kind of mobile advertising that will place ads for apps in users' mobile News Feeds, based on other apps that user has on his phone, reports the Wall Street Journal...

Forget TV Ads: Romney Hunts Supporters Online

And they are largely quiz-taking, photo-sharing home repair fans

(Newser) - Likely voters are watching live TV less and less, and political campaigns are responding with aggressive online tactics in what could be "the first truly digital election," says an analyst. Mitt Romney is looking for the right Internet audience to target his ads—but rather than pursuing advertisements...

Mastercard, Visa to Use Purchases in Ad Targeting?

Companies also hope to mine your DNA

(Newser) - What you buy in the real world could eventually determine the ads you see online. Visa and MasterCard are studying ways of tracking consumer purchases in order to target online advertising—a plan that could take a heavy toll on online anonymity, the Wall Street Journal reports. One example offered...

Next Up in County Jail? Advertising

This night in the pokey has been brought to you by...

(Newser) - Money's tight for many a local government these days, and Western New York's Erie County is looking to squeeze a buck or two out of an unlikely place: its jail. The county is selling jailhouse advertising to bail bondsmen and attorneys on high-def TVs outside its booking area and in...

General Mills Slashes Sugar in Kids' Cereals
 General Mills Slashes 
 Sugar in Kids' Cereals 
third cut in 3 years
Dec 10, 2009 10:06 AM CST

General Mills Slashes Sugar in Kids' Cereals

Cut affects Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, 8 other breakfast treats

(Newser) - General Mills is bowing to consumer pressure and cutting the amount of sugar in all of its cereals aimed at children, the third time in three years the food giant has taken its sweet breakfast treats down a notch. The goal this time is bring the amount of sugar per...

Advertisers Go for the Nose
 Advertisers Go for the Nose 
Sep 17, 2008 8:51 PM CDT

Advertisers Go for the Nose

It's not just perfume in magazines anymore

(Newser) - If you think scented advertising begins and ends with old-school scratch-and-sniff ads, brace yourself, and your nose, for a coming assault. It's sort of a double-whammy in the advertising world, Salon reports: Marketers are learning more every day about how smells hold sway over our emotions, and chemists can synthesize...

Yahoo to Let Users Opt Out of Targeted Ads

(Newser) - Internet giant Yahoo will offer users the opportunity to opt out of targeted advertising as concerns mount over consumer privacy, the Washington Post reports. The move comes as Congress is taking a closer look at how web sites track users' data and translate it into ads. Watchdog groups say even...

Black Media Outlets Focus on Obama Ads

Budget for African-American outreach unclear

(Newser) - The Barack Obama campaign hasn't spent much on advertising in African-American media, a trend many hope the candidate will reverse as he gears up for the general election, Advertising Age reports. "The audience has to be motivated to get out and vote," says a BET exec who cautions...

Smart Billboards: They're Watching You

Advertisers use surveillance technology to gather data on passers-by

(Newser) - Advertisers are bringing billboards into the 21st century by fitting them with cameras that record details used to determine a passer-by's age, sex, and race, the New York Times reports. Companies plan to use the technology to tailor the advertising to the person standing in front of it. The tiny...

The Internet Is Watching You
The Internet Is Watching You
Mar 10, 2008 12:30 PM CDT

The Internet Is Watching You

Biggest companies gather data on the average user hundreds of times a month

(Newser) - Long gone are the days of Internet anonymity. Big Web companies know all about you, says a study commissioned by the New York Times. The Internet giants track users’ behavior across sites, gathering details on a typical person several hundred times a month. That information lets them target content and—...

Web Tracking Opt-Out Plan Gets Panned

Online ad group's proposal clashes with FTC guidelines, privacy group desires

(Newser) - An online advertisers trade group has proposed guidelines for targeted advertising that don’t satisfy recent FTC recommendations. The Interactive Advertising Bureau proposal would make it harder for consumers to know if a website was storing their information; FTC guidelines suggest a “clear, consumer-friendly, and prominent statement” and easy...

Microsoft Launches Cell Phone Ad Sales

Graphic or text banners can be shown on MSN Mobile portal

(Newser) - Microsoft launched cell phone advertising in the US Monday, with banner ads displayed on MSN Mobile, a portal accessible from any mobile phone. The ads will be displayed as graphics or text, depending on the user's phone, reports AP. Competitors Yahoo, Google, and numerous smaller companies already sell mobile advertising,...

Now Cable is Watching You
Now Cable is Watching You
Nov 25, 2007 10:53 PM CST

Now Cable is Watching You

New ad technology tracks family viewing habits from cable box data

(Newser) - Viewing data flashed from cable boxes is being used to monitor family viewing habits and then target advertising more selectively to cable customers. The Wall Street Journal reports the new process comes from Navic Networks, an interactive TV company in Massachusetts, comparable to technology used by Internet advertisers, and is...

Facebook Ad Plans Raise Privacy Issues

Seems employees can troll, control, and fiddle with personal data

(Newser) - As the advertising industry prepares to harness the personal data of 50 million Facebook users, new privacy concerns are whipping through cyberspace. Valleywag reveals that Facebook employees not only have access to users' profiles and inboxes, but can alter them. And they do—frequently enough that management had to tell...

16 Stories