The FTC weighs in on data brokers, citing a lack of transparency and the risk to consumers as reason for legislators to step in. This could well be a turning point for the privacy and data governance debates.

Some 58% of employees participating in a recent survey did not receive a device from their employer, but still purchased one on their own. Of those who purchased a device on their own, 66% use it for work-related purposes, which got me thinking about a bunch of issues related to the data.

A psychologist recommends that advertisers have mobile media wrong if they think it's just another screen. It is an extension of ourselves. Advertising as usual here is like inserting sponsor messages in someone's diary.

Europeans may soon get the opportunity to request that Google, Bing and other search engines delete embarrassing links served up from sites across the Web. The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that people have the right to have data about themselves deleted online after a Spanish man brought the matter into court, arguing Google search results infringe on his privacy.

One UK researcher believes that the frenetic activity around wearable media on the part of giants like Google and Apple will help the market explode in the next few years. Actually, I think it has more to do with how personal data generators are dovetailed into a deeper set of cultural values.

Ok, we get it. Cell phones are so important to us now that many of us will backtrack up to 30 minutes to retrieve the device we left at home. But before we really can target this space, we need to work through exactly what kind of relationship we want to these devices -- and to one another -- through them.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who now acts as technical advisor, sees Bing technology as fundamental to Microsoft and doesn't think it makes sense to break it off from the company.

North American marketers on average use 7.5 different social tactics when reaching out to consumers. They range from Facebook update posts and brand pages, to YouTube videos and word-of-mouth marketing. And while marketers have become more comfortable with social media, the biggest problem suggests too many still think social doesn't require a financial investment.

The White House is about to issue a preliminary report on the wide range of challenges big data and targeting pose to existing laws and policy. There may be even more at stake than that: how we relate to one another.

Sony is working with targeting data company Pursway to connect social behavior with purchases, helping the brand understand the likelihood that a consumer will make a purchase based on the number of other Sony owners around them. Pursway's technology pinpoints a brand's key influencers and identifies customers with an affinity to its products, along with those whom they might have influenced through a relationship. "One or two people that someone knows can influence the products someone else buys," said Jeremy Lyons, senior manager at Sony USA.