Engage Technologies  

Server List: See Stephen Martin's Hosts File List (Engage Group)

About Engage: www.engage.com

Engage is an online marketing conglomerate that "...provides marketers with unparalleled targeting capabilities." Engage is a Premier Corporate Sponsor of TRUSTe (profiled separately on this site).

Their platform includes four components: Engage Knowledge™ (a global database of "individual, anonymous profiles of online consumer behavior"), AdBureau™ (ad targeting campaigns based on Engage Knowledge profiles), AdServer™ (ad placment), and AdManager™ software that has "targeting and reporting features [that] provide one-to-one marketing opportunities - especially when combined with powerful precision profiling from Engage Technologies."

When the Federal Trade Commission approved the "Network Advertising Initiative's (NAI) Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Preference Marketing (OPM)" on July 27, 2000 (Ref: FTC Press Release: www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/07/onlineprofiling.htm), Engage overhauled it's Privacy section to assure users that "Engage's anonymous profiling technology can enhance the consumer's online experience without compromising privacy." As of August 2000, the Profiling Philosophy indicates the Engage Knowledge database contains over 70 million profiles.

TrustLabels: On July 14, 2000, Engage submitted an Internet Draft "...to the HTTP Working Group of the IETF that allows web servers to inform users of their privacy practices with regard to HTTP cookies. The proposal recommends that Web sites use "TrustLabels" to associate their Internet privacy practices with information exchanged through cookies."

"TrustLabels are an implementation of the P3P specification into browser cookies, and they conform to the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) standard. They tell visitors how a Web site will use information stored in a cookie or derived from a cookie. Users will have the ability to accept or reject the sites data practices." (Ref: www.engage.com/privacy/industry_privacy.cfm and The IETF Internet Draft - "HTTP Trust Mechanism for State Management" www.engage.com/privacy/ietf.htm.)

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Privacy Information  

Site Privacy Policy: www.engage.com/privacy/site_privacy.cfm

"Anonymous click stream information is collected for every visitor to this site. This includes pages viewed, date & time, and browser type. IP numbers are not stored, but are temporarily used to determine domain type and in some cases, geographic region. We do not make any association between this information and a visitor's identity. [...] The information is used by Engage to build anonymous behavioral profiles which are written to the Engage Knowledge database."

Profiling Philosophy: www.engage.com/privacy/profiling_privacy.cfm

"Effective online marketing without compromising personal privacy" This nine-point statement covers Engage's techniques and use of mined data. Read the Engage Profiling Philosophy...

Privacy Covenant: www.engage.com/privacy/commitment_privacy.cfm

"Since our founding in 1995, we've made privacy such a priority that we've become known as the industry leader. That commitment is demonstrated in the 10-point privacy covenant we've made with consumers." Read the Engage Privacy Covenant...

Privacy FAQ: www.engage.com/privacy/faq_privacy.cfm

The FAQ explains what information they're collecting, how they're collecting it, what's done with it, and why everyone should always trust them.

Opt-Out Option: www.engage.com/privacy/optout_privacy.cfm

The highlights below are mine. In August 2000, the opt-out cookie previously available was replaced with a link to an executable file: http://cyberweb.engage.com/cgi-bin/optout.exe. Why should running an .exe file be necessary to place a cookie? Not recommended!

"Engage provides an opt-out program that replaces the Engage Knowledge identification code in your browser cookie file with an "opt-out" cookie. By doing this, the system can no longer uniquely recognize your computer. As a result, Engage Knowledge is unable to associate you to any profile information."

Privacy Contact: [email protected]

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AdKnowledge (Focalink)  

About Adknowledge: www.engage.com/adknowledge/ - www.adknowledge.com - www.focalink.com (adknowledge and focalink redirect to engage/adknowledge)

Adknowledge is a subsidiary of Engage. Their "...mission is to put marketers and agencies in control of their outbound Web marketing programs and maximize their return on investment.[...] AdKnowledge eAnalytics applies strategic insight into how to optimize current campaigns and mine information from the past to prepare for your next initiative."

Site Privacy Policy: www.engage.com/adknowledge/privacy/index.cfm?page=privacy_policy2
AdKnowledge logs clickstream information (browser version, the operating system, and the IP address of the computer in use, the web page where that browser previously visited, and the exact time of the interaction) and uses tracking cookies.

"No information collected on the AdKnowledge web site will be shared with non-affiliated third parties except only as necessary to comply with state and federal laws." (Translation: They will share some or all of the information with affiliated third parties. Even if it was possible to figure out who all those third-parties are, it would be near impossible to keep track of new "third-parties" and what the policies of those third parties are.)

Consumer Privacy Policy: www.engage.com/adknowledge/privacy/index.cfm?page=privacy_policy

AdKnowledge logs clickstream information and uses tracking cookies. Information logged includes browser version, operating system, IP addresses, ad content delivered, click-throughs on ads, and web pages viewed after ad click-throughs. This information is provided to our customers who use this information to determine the success of their web advertising expenditures."

"Anonymous, browser-based activity information may also be used by other units of Engage to create anonymous interest profiles on individual browsers. This information does not include any personally identifiable data (such as name, address or e-mail address) that is considered sensitive or controversial or would compromise a consumer's privacy. These profiles are accessed by enabled Web sites and marketers to tailor site content, promotions and advertising, and to perform market research."

Opt-Out Option: An opt-out cookie is available at www.engage.com/adknowledge/privacy/index.cfm?page=opt_out

Privacy Contact: [email protected]

Adknowledge Agency Clients Include: Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Bell Atlantic, Macy's, Infoseek, Hotmail, Schwab and Hewlett-Packard. (Bell Atlantic has an extended partnership with L90, profiled separately on this site.)

Adknowledge Customers Include: eBay, PlanetRx, Sparks.com, Healthshop.com, Cooking.com, and SportsLine USA.

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Engage Media  

About Engage Media: www.engage.com/engagemedia/

Engage Media was created by the consolidation of Adsmart www.adsmart.net, Engage AudienceNet www.audiencenet.com, and Flycast Communications www.flycast.com (all redirect to EngageMedia). Adsmart includes NetFuerza www.netfuerza.com, the "largest Hispanic online ad network which reaches Latin America, the U.S., Spain, and Portugal."

Engage Media uses "site-specific ad placement and sponsorships" and "...believe[s] in helping our customers learn more about their audience. To help accomplish this, we offer profile-based audience analytics through our Audience Insight™ product. We also offer a back-end tracking product that allows advertisers to evaluate campaign performance through ValueTrak™."

Engage Media Customers Include: AllMeetings.com, IUMA, Rocketlinks, Cars.com, Morningstar, SmarterKids, CNBC, NewHomeNetwork, Technology4Kids.com, Digital Work, Office Click, Ubid, Exile on 7th, and Recordstore.com.

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Engage Business Media  

About Engage Business Media: www.engageb2b.com - 216.251.229.35

This division is "...dedicated to the needs of B2B online advertisers and web publishers. Through targeted advertising in the most sought after vertical audience groups, Engage Business Media delivers to B2B advertisers a complete solution for reaching their most important customers..."

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I/PRO  

About I/PRO www.engage.com/ipro/ - www.ipro.com (redirects)

I/PRO (Internet Profiles Corp.) provides auditing and analysis that "...help[s] you interpret the numbers generated from your Web site. [...] Identifying the "untold story" can uncover hidden information "gems" about the way people view, interact with and respond to your company."

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MediaBridge Technologies  

About MediaBridge Technologies www.mediabridge.net

MediaBridge is "...a leading provider of cross-media closed loop targeted marketing systems" has been acquired by Engage with the deal expected to be completed by late summer 2000." (PR, June 12, 2000 www.engage.com/press_room/viewpress.cfm?urlcode=06122000mediabridge)

"MediaBridge's traditional media, retail and catalog customers use MediaBridge's software to access, store, manage and reuse rich-media promotional campaigns and related data. MediaBridge eMarketing unites click-stream permission-based profiling data with historical, transactional, demographic information to provide the next generation targeted marketing solution."

Privacy Policy: No Privacy Policy was found on the MediaBridge Website. So, you filled out a card years ago to get a catalog from Circuit City or Sharper Image in the mail. Wondering if the info you gave up will wind up tied to your surfing habits?

Engage thought you might wonder about that and included this statement in the Press Release: "Enriched Engage Knowledge Profiles - MediaBridge customers will be eligible to participate in the Engage Knowledge anonymous profile database, by contributing anonymous non-personally identifiable information to Engage Knowledge. Engage will maintain its longstanding promise to consumers to collect only anonymous behavior data for its Engage Knowledge database, and not merge any of that data with personally identifiable data."

Opt-Out Option: None found.

MediaBridge Customers Include: Circuit City, Reynolds and Reynolds, Sharper Image, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, Fujifilm, Kohls, Valpak, and Polaroid.

Last Reviewed: Aug 24-00

Quoted excerpts are © Engage Technologies and/or its subsidiaries unless otherwise noted.

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