This Week in the Learning Center: Internet Privacy

This week, TechSoup published a new article on site analytics and privacy issues, Site Statistics and User Privacy for Nonprofit Websites. It's a complex issue with some strong feelings attached; there's much more to say than we could include in the article, but we hope it can serve as a starting point to help you make decisions about your nonprofit's website. Check out the article and share your thoughts in the TechSoup forums.

Internet privacy, particularly with respect to advertising, has been a big topic in the news lately. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) is introducing a bill next month that would force all U.S.-based websites to explain how users' data is being used and allow visitors to opt out of behavioral targeting campaigns (a few months ago, Boucher proposed a less-popular opt-in regulation).

Predictably, the advertising industry is responding negatively. "How many consumers want to pay $1,000 a month to have access to the Internet?" asked Matthew Wise of Q Interactive in a recent debate. "The reason they don't have to is because of advertising." If that argument sounds eerily familiar to you, it's because it's been voiced by the telecommunications industry throughout the net neutrality debate.

In a sense, the advertising industry is right. What pays for Google's awesome array of services is its massive market-research database, a database you contribute to every time you use Google or visit a Google Analytics-enabled website. On the other hand, using the benefits of a free Internet as an argument against any regulation makes little sense, especially as more and more popular media providers are moving to paid services.

Update: For more insight on how Internet privacy impacts nonprofits' missions, check out Aspen Baker's excellent guest post on Beth Kanter's blog.

Photo: The_Gut, CC license