The topic of behavioral targeting has become the red-hot center of attention in online ad circles. The shift from conventional demographics to more finely granular modes of segmentation is far deeper and wider than that, however. Indeed, as a recent conversation with Simmons Research Co-CEO Bill Engler makes clear, even the medium of television, where demographics has ruled for generations, may now be on the threshold of subtly but profoundly undergoing its own paradigm shift to new targeting models.

Behavioral targeting is about to become part of consumers' and advertisers' search experience, but how does that change the red-hot SEM market?

As part of its effort to help establish better practices among software makers, CNET is on the advisory committee of Truste's Trusted Download program, which aims to give users peace-of-mind by evaluating adware and trackware applications for certification. Behavioral Insider talked with David Gregory, senior producer at CNET's Download.com.

Are Americans too concerned with Web privacy issues? Could the virtual world of games be a testing territory for emerging advertising techniques and technologies? Ilya Vedrashko thinks so. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student moved here from Russia to study all things media and advertising at MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program.