Here's a thought to ponder over the long weekend: what if open access to the mountains of data so many of us are trying to hide or protect really could be understood as a good thing? What if the focus of the debate over data shifted from an obsession over privacy to a creative discussion of data's possible social and policy utility? Instead of focusing energy on limiting data use, how about redirecting energies to optimizing the sharing of data?

Five of the top Fortune 15 companies now use data management services from BlueKai for online ad targeting. That's how company executives describe its growth during the past six months, though they decline to name the actual companies involved (which could be, perhaps, corporate giants like Wal-Mart Stores, Exxon Mobile,General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, General Motors, AT&T -- all part of the Fortune 15).

DataXu on Wednesday will officially launch a multichannel demand-side platform dubbed DX Brand. The system measures brand metrics such as awareness, recall, favorability, or purchase intent. Using in-ad surveys, A/B testing and multivariate decision making processes, the system determines the placements and creative pieces most likely to generate a favorable response from consumers who see them.

Congress put a spotlight on mobile privacy this week in Washington. As I argued earlier about the coming tumult over data handling on cell phones, mobile gives regulators, and the marketplace generally, something we didn't have in the privacy discussion on the Web -- two big fat likable corporate brands to help focus and personify the conversation.

Behavioral targeting could take a new turn as more companies adopt the practice of customizing Web site content, from ads to editorial. Research firm eMarketer estimated 97% of advertisers and agencies will use some form of audience targeting in 2011, but Yakov Shabat, CEO and founder of Personyze, believes the concept of behavioral targeting will change as government agencies in the U.S. and across the world implement stricter standards to protect consumer privacy.

Retargeting has been a favorite and basic model for retailers to leverage behavioral targeting for years. Following a user after he or she has visited your e-commerce site or abandoned a shopping cart has proven enormously effective for obvious reasons - the consumer's intent is unmistakable. In practice, however, the path to success in retargeting has often been less clear for some companies.

Apparently Clearspring execs have been in compliance with privacy guidelines. The company recently discovered, pending court approval, that a $3.25 million class-action lawsuit could be dismissed.

In the 15 years I have been writing about Internet media and advertising, I feel as if I have been writing the same story every few years about the untapped and undervalued Hispanic and African-American communities. Internet history should have taught marketers a lesson about this. Long before Mark Zuckerberg was cooking code at Harvard, amazing online communities such as MiGente and BlackPlanet were already demonstrating the massive power of social networking.

Location-based digital ad network Adcentricity recently unveiled a behavioral targeting platform for agencies and brands called Consumer Sync. It targets consumers by geo-location with ads on digital out-of-home media, incorporating data on consumer behaviors, psychographics and purchase intent.

The online behavioral advertising world may be feeling a bit like Lindsay Lohan this morning -- right after Charlie Sheen went self-destructive super-nova. Whew! Lindsay must have thought -- at least the press is onto another whack job for a while. And so, in just a matter of days, persistent and growing attention to digital privacy issues and pending regulatory proposals took a hard left into Cupertino. The revelation that iPhones maintain on-board tracking of user locations (accessible to anyone with the device and the right software tools) just succeeded in moving the digital privacy discussion closer to the third …