IT World reports that FTC bars Epic Marketing (Via Slashdot) from sniffing browser histories. Epic operated an ad network of over 45,000 sites. Where advertisers normally use cookies for tracking, retargeting and other clever trick of the trade Epic was caught mining users' browser history:
"In its privacy policy, Epic said it would collect information only about consumers' visits to sites in its network. However, Epic used history-sniffing technology allowing it to collect data about sites outside its network, including sites relating to personal health conditions and finances, the FTC said."
More bad press about cookies could threaten to hit the major players and could derail the ad exchanges that depend upon cookies. Companies like admantx hope that very thing will happen. They have put their eggs in cookieless targeting based on advanced algorithms and context.
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