Microsoft IE to close down 3rd party conversion tracking?

conversion tracking, stats,

[freerunjeff]

I have a question regarding 3rd party conversion tracking which I hope the users in this forum have an answer too.

I've been told not to invest much in the long term prospects of 3rd party conversion tracking tools from google, overture, hitbox, gotoast etc...(I'm not disputing their great value to marketers) as Microsoft will likely soon close the "hole" in IE that allows this to work.

I'm advised that they announced their intention to implement this change to IE under the radar over a year ago and will likely be rolling out thier own competing product allowing sites to track the referral to conversion process end to end. It seems unlikely, yet it is microsoft, any thoughts regarding this?

[SevanB2]

Interesting. I'm not sure exactly what the hole in IE is that allows these conversion tracking programs to operate, but I do believe that MS will eventually close it under the auspices of "security" -

However, I think the real motive behind a move like this is that conversion tracking is the future. Conversion tracking is the name of the game in 2004.. profit margins in this space are high, and MS has the resources to own this market because of IE's integration into most desktops.

The trick is for someone to develop reliable, cross-browser conversion tracking tools that are not cookie-based or otherwise susceptible to a block by MS. I actually thought GoToast had done this, but I may be wrong.

[mark aardsma]

Hello,

As a developer of conversion tracking software, I can't see how IE could distinguish tracking cookies, URLs, and images reliably enough to block then without blocking a lot of other non-tracking stuff as well.

I don't see IE doing something like that.

Mark