Gallup Bins Profiling Service Over Cookie Issue

In Denmark, Gallup has called time on its new analysis product 'Webprofil', after a documentary suggested that opt-in participants had not fully understood their obligations in terms of cookie installation.

34,000 members of the company's GallupForum web panel had cookies installed on their computers, but in the documentary it emerged that 'several' of the members had not realised cookies would be installed when they clicked on the 'accept' button in the 'terms and conditions' section; and now felt 'spied on'.

Webprofil aimed to segment consumers and link the information to web site usage, and used cookies to glean information about the latter in order to link it to survey answers about everything from their sex lives to their choice of washing powder.

Henrik Hansen, head of TNS Gallup Denmark, said the firm's procedures were in full accordance with guidelines issued by the Danish Data Protection Agency and added: 'I am sorry that we haven't been clear enough in our GallupForum terms and conditions information.'

In point of fact the document is fairly explicit about use of cookies, declaring:

• measurement takes place using 'cookies', which detect your presence on the participating web sites.

  Cookies are linked to your background data from Gallup forum (eg. sex, age, municipality of residence etc..), which gives us a good picture of which sites are most popular in different population groups (eg. among women and men).

It adds that Webprofil complies with both Data Protection and ICC/ESOMAR Codes, and stresses that 'records will never be passed on a personal level' but in aggregate form.

However, Consumer Council lawyer Anette Hoyrup, quoted on www.cphpost.dk , said it was 'extremely unlikely' that Forum members would have read the particular section dealing with cookies, commenting: 'That's the problem with these long terms and conditions; nobody reads them.' [Editor's note: pity that doesn't stop Microsoft, Apple and others printing small encyclopaedias of T&Cs for their latest releases - 64 pages for an iPhone 3G....]

Gallup says all the data has now been deleted and no more cookies will be installed.

Web site: www.tns-gallup.dk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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