• by April 25, 2008

I find it fascinating that this is becoming such a federal issue. Direct mailers have been using tactics like this for decades -- and their data collection is much more comprehensive, much more personal, and much more difficult for consumers to opt out of. At least online, all I have to do is delete my cookies to become anonymous again.

I think the Google response puts it best -- in essence, the FTC is far too uneducated to be crafting legislation on this, currently, and further market distinctions need to be drawn before a meaningful dialogue can begin. Left to their own devices, the FTC would likely chunk this out in a single piece and apply some embarrassingly under-baked, one-size-fits-all approach. And it would either be a legal disaster or an unenforceable white elephant.

Also disturbing is the knee-jerk reaction of the supposed consumer watchdog and privacy orgs that live for this sort of dust-up. Again, painting all consumer data collection with the same hey-you're-stealing-my-credit-card-number!! brush.

And I don't know if Yahoo is just trying to curry favor for a merger review by the Feds, but their sycophantic gee-guys-we're-way-out-in-front-on-this response is nauseating. Microsoft was flavorless, as usual.

In the end, who really cares if I went to a website, got tagged on their home page, and then retargeted with specific creative on another site in an Ad.com network? What's the harm? That's my question. What are we trying to solve for here? Facebook's Beacon? Ok, now that one needs a law.