• by John Capone , February 24, 2010

"Any ad that is being targeted with data ... will need to be identified if the self-regulatory process goes ahead. There has to be a consumer-freindly balance in the marketplace. Data is going to be used far beyond what's going on in the online space," says Adam Gerber, CMO of Quantcast. "There's a sniff test that's hard to regulate," he continues. For instance medical data. Foot cream ads are probably OK, but targeting people with terminal diseases is not. There are many shades of grey between.

"You have to start by asking, 'What am I afraid of?' People don't want content that they have seen, tied to their names," says Ken Rona, VP if Strategy and Analytics at [X+1]

"Let's all do ourselves a favor and not call it behavioral targeting," says Darren Herman, president of Varick Media Management. "Because nothing will bring Washington DC knocking on our doors faster."