After notice, we need to give consumers control. Right now, only one company is doing this well-- mSpoke, out of Pittsburgh, PA, and they may be onto something.

Let's say a consumer visits websites in these categories:

• Electronics
• Automotive
• Travel

As users click around, mSpoke allows them to view and edit their content and ad preferences, and this builds consumer control and engagement.

mSpoke calls these preferences "memes,” and -- just as with Richard Dawkins’ original idea of memes as socially adaptable traits -- what helps the user sticks around, and what doesn’t is removed.

Take a look at this diagram of how consumer control works:

It's a great concept. But the real question is...

Does this even matter to consumers? Yes.
Why? Because simply offering this type of control does a lot to take the wind out of the sails of those who compare cookies to Spyware.