How Far is Too Far?

Flickr Photo by The Rugby Player

The FTC is considering more regulations for the $20 billion online marketing industry. Now, I get the willies anytime I hear the words “web” and “regulation” in the same breath. This is the new frontier people, and we don’t need no stinkin’ badges! But you have to admit, the Center for Digital Democracy has some good points about how marketers might abuse the technologies behind behavioral targeting.

Still, I also believe a little caveat emptor is required when you do anything on the web. As I touched on in the previous post, anything you post in a public forum is no longer private. So where do we draw the line when it comes to privacy protection? Search? Browsing? And do you trust the FTC to decide for you? I think it’s too convenient an argument to say that lack of regulation caused the recession, so let’s regulate everything since we can’t possibly trust the free market to self-regulate.

I draw the line at value for the consumer.

The real issue for me is the value behavioral targeting can add to your experience online. Let’s face it: If you want content for free, you have to look at ads. Don’t you want those ads to “know” you? Wouldn’t you rather see ads for things you actually like? That you might buy? I would. Let’s not make “behavioral, targeted marketing” a bad word just yet.

In the meantime, word to the wise: If you’re connected to the Internets, assume your actions can be tracked and calculate the risk. Yes, our government is looking for terrorists, and yes, your wife can see that you watch porn if she really wants no matter how many cookies you delete.