A pop-up window for iPhones was launched by Apple in April, in which users are asked whether they want to be monitored by various applications and they agree.
Google has just announced intentions to deactivate a tracking feature in its Chrome web browser, according to a press release.
Furthermore, Facebook said last month that hundreds of its engineers were working on a new way of displaying advertisements that did not depend on people’s personal data.
However, although the changes seemed to be purely technological, they were really part of a larger fight for the future of the internet, which is becoming more heated. Several internet giants have been embroiled in the battle, which has upended Madison Avenue and caused significant disruption to small companies. And it signals a sea change in the way personal information about individuals may be utilised online, with far-reaching consequences for the ways in which companies earn money online.
It was more than two decades ago that the internet began to cause a resurgence in the advertising business. It completely destroyed newspapers and magazines that had depended on selling classifieds and print advertisements for their revenue, and it threatened to dethrone television advertising as the most effective medium for reaching huge audiences.
Instead, companies plastered their advertisements all over the internet, with their campaigns frequently being targeted to particular people’s interests. Facebook, Google, and Twitter grew as a result of those digital advertisements since they provided their search and social networking services to consumers for free. People were followed from site to site using technology such as “cookies,” and their personal information was used to target them with appropriate marketing messages in return.
