RE: Localized Web Advertising & IP tracking (was Re: bilingual websites)

Thierry,

Chris' web site is a perfect example of why geolocation does not work.  His
site primarily supports people living in Wales.  Welsh or English is a
personal selection.  Likewise you could not determine if you should provide
French for someone living in Canada, Belgium, or Switzerland.

Carl

> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-international-request@w3.org
> [mailto:www-international-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of Thierry Sourbier
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 9:25 AM
> To: www-international@w3.org
> Subject: Localized Web Advertising & IP tracking (was Re: bilingual
> websites)
>
>
> Chris,
>
> > And you accept language is fr, en right?
>
> Right now, it says "zh" just to defy logic :)). I told you, I'm beyond
> recovery point :))).
>
> > Yes, that is a good summary. In my case, i found that i got a lot of
> > french-targetted adverts on web pages when I just *added* French; I
> > needed to add English (en-gb) as well as en to get them to believe me
> > ;-)
>
> Well, with my messed up browser I still get adds in French adds
> when I read
> the NY times or go to some major US portals. How is that possible?
>
> While finding someone's location based on his/her IP address has been
> something traditionnaly difficult/impossible, it seems like some
> folks like
> Akamai have now the capability to offer some IP tracking system
> to pin point a user geographical location. I'm betting this is what is
> used (instead of the HTTP request parameters). I'll be interested
> if anyone
> as further info on the subject!
>
> Notes on IP tracking: http://www.private.org.il/IP2geo.html
> Akamai product: http://www.akamai.com/html/en/sv/content_targeting.html
>
> It seems also that www.altavista.com brings me directly to the French page
> without
> using the HTTP header at all. Again I bet that IP tracking is in use, if
> anyone has another explaination I'll be interested in that too.
>
> For non-US surfers, a simple way to *fake* a US IP address is to use
> www.anonymiser.com.
>
> Cheers,
> T.
>
> PS: I tried to find an example of site with localized ads but did not have
> any luck today. I'm just working from memory.
> PPS: I'm not linked or getting paid by Akamai, if you know of other
> companies
> offering the same thing let me/us know as well :).
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Lilley" <chris@w3.org>
> To: "Thierry Sourbier" <webmaster@i18ngurus.com>
> Cc: <www-international@w3.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 5:01 PM
> Subject: Re: bilingual websites
>
>
> >
> >
> > Thierry Sourbier wrote:
> > >
> > > > If your primary language was Welsh and a browser was available in
> Welsh,
> > > > what would *you* pick?
> > >
> > > Sorry Chris, you picked the wrong person, my primary language
> is French
> and
> > > I use an English browser :).
> >
> > And you accept language is fr, en right?
> >
> > > I would agree that most French people would
> > > pick a French browser because most softwares (including the OSs) are
> > > available in French.
> >
> > Well, I live in France, use a US Operating system set to English but
> > with French currency and dates (and my accept language is en-gb, en,
> > fr).
> >
> > > Now, correct me if I'm wrong but:
> > > * I do not believe there is either a Welsh version of Windows
> or Mac OS.
> >
> > Why would there need to be? But yes, I just checked the regional
> > settings on Windows XP and, in the list of languages, no Welsh.
> >
> > > * Most softwares are not available in Welsh.
> >
> > Correct. Some Web content is, though.
> >
> > > * The vast majority (>90%) of Welsh speaker are bilingual English +
> Welsh.
> >
> > Yes, although it depends on their preferred language as wel as what they
> > speak. For example, I suspect you would trather read material in French
> > than in English assuming tghe exact same content with the same
> > last-modify date was available in both languages?
> >
> > > Hence my assumption that, just as the rest of their softwares, most
> Welsh
> > > users are probably using an English browsers. That may be an
> assumption
> that
> > > Christopher Williams can verify just by checking is web log :).
> > >
> > > The point is that the browser preference is not totally reliable if it
> > > indicates English but should be reliable if it says Welsh.
> >
> > Yes, that is a good summary. In my case, i found that i got a lot of
> > french-targetted adverts on web pages when I just *added* French; I
> > needed to add English (en-gb) as well as en to get them to believe me
> > ;-)
> >
> > --
> > Chris
> >
> >
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 31 October 2001 10:27:48 UTC