A press release by Jupiter Research has some unsettling news for net marketers.

The report found that as many as 39% of online users may be deleting cookies from their primary computer monthly, undermining the usefulness of cookie-based measurement and leaving many site operators flying blind.

More alarming news:

According to a recent consumer survey cited in the report, 52% of online users indicate a strong interest in stories and articles about Internet security and privacy, while 38% of online users believe that cookies are an invasion of their security and privacy online and 44% of online users believe that deleting or blocking cookies will protect them.

I just have to look at my own surfing habits to see what direction this is heading in. My browser is set to automatically erase all cookies once it closes, and I have my handy dandy little cleaner I run to wipe out all cookies and temp files before I shut down or reboot.

I think it’s pretty clear where cookies are heading and merchants/networks of affiliate programs need to realize that cookie based tracking is soooo 1990’s and it’s time to come up with new technology.

FAST.

I think this problem is reflective in the CPA/CPC debate. More and more affiliates are realizing that CPA isn’t “working like it used to”. The fight against parasites/adware, failing tracking systems (ie. cookie based), and merchants/affiliate managers who aren’t affiliate friendly with their methods - all this adds up to making CPC look more and more attractive to an affiliate marketer.

Do merchants and/or affiliate managers *really* want to see a shift of CPC becoming *the* strong choice for affiliate marketers?

Thanks to ThreadWatch for the heads up.