Revived Spyware Bill Could Crunch Cookies

ClickZ reports on a new anti-spyware bill that, while a good idea in principle, could cause havoc in its current written state.

While SPY-ACT creates cookie exceptions for publishers wishing to identify return visitors, those exceptions don’t apply to third parties or network advertisers. “In the current bill, cookies that behave like cookies are exempt,” said Pencille. “If it’s monitoring your behavior when you leave [the site that placed it], then it’s not covered.” The bill wouldn’t permit publishers to share cookie information with partners, which would cripple their ability to target ads. Passage of the bill would make illegal such widespread marketing practices as behavioral targeting, cross-site frequency capping, and network traffic analysis. Publishers and site owners are also dependent on third party tracking tools to earn the higher CPMs they’ve enjoyed of late.