One of the major improvements boasted by both the new Internet Explorer 8 and Google’s Chrome browser is the new privacy protections put in place. Both browsers have increased cookie blocking abilities and even include a mode that allows you to surf the web in a near anonymous manner.

The problem this presents to affiliate marketers is clear, most of these programs track referrals through the use of cookies. If browsers start to block these cookies on a regular basis, it could really shake things up for marketers. Linkshare has some technologies that do not require cookies, but the vast majority of programs still track referrals in this manner.

Given the incredible amount of identity theft and fraud going on today, increased privacy is generally thought to be a good thing. We should only expect this to become a bigger and bigger issue with more safeguards put in place in the future. Anyone running an affiliate program should be looking for the next technology now so that they are not stranded in the future as more and more users block the tracking cookies.

Tags: affiliate marketing, affiliate tracking, privacy