Final dealy thing.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo.

Predicta BT, AdLINK 360, Adaptlogic, Avail, Boomerang, Criteo, DoubleClick (prior to 2002)[1], Leiki, nugg.ad, prudsys, ValueClick[2], Netmining and wunderloop, Tacoda.

AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science), Navegg, BTBuckets, Connected VITES, , SiteSpect, Maxymiser,Omniture and Netmining Decision engine.

Undertone Networks, eXelate, Lindotiger, Collective Media, Tatto Media, Front Porch[4], Media Networks Inc., Netmining, Burst Media, Phorm, ValueClick,Tribal Fusion Mediaplex, osAdsPr, Scanscout
and my personal favorite, "PredictiveIntent"

you might as well add fucking Skynet and Cyberdyne Systems to that list if you ask me.
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Behavioral targeting:

using cookies to track sites visited, content viewed, length of visit among a host of websites.


59 percent of americans are uncomfortable with it.

-Transparency makes the user more comfortable, or in the least more accepting of these practices.



It is an interesting technology, but I don't appreciate they way it tends to fly below the radar for sometimes years before it's ever brought to our attention or regulated. With Googles constant rollout of new mobile services, which are beginning to utilize your GPS coordinates, I just want to be able to know EXACTLY where this information is going, who can view it, and how long it is stored, and I for one feel this is too important to be buried in an end user license agreement.

A consequence of this that I find pretty disturbing under the surface level is that alot of the seemingly innocuous deals with companies like google and microsoft aquiring small tech firms, they are pretty much just buying and selling a trove of profiles filled with personal information, search habits, purchases and other info. Again, theres nothing illegal but the lack of transparency is unfortunate.

In one month, yahoo collects about 811 pieces of information on each user of its site that goes towards a behavioral advertising profile, or about 110 billion in total.

Amazon.co.uk  is opting out of BT's deep packet inspection system to deliver targeted advertising, reports Network World.
 
-TACO opt-out cookie from Network Advertising Initiative
(gets deleted when you delete your cookies)

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Deep packet inspection: sounds like a fucking prostate exam.

PHORM
The system, which tracks users' every click online in order to provide advertising targeted to specific interests, has generated a storm of protest by privacy advocates in the UK. The European Commission earlier this week opened legal proceedings against the UK government over the covert testing of Phorm in 2006 and 2007.
 
Network World also reports Google may opt out of the program, too.

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These companies measure success through click-through-rate and -action-through-rate.

-I do see the whole thing as a rather interesting study, or reflection on human nature and the companies have made some pretty clever concessions to get their CTR up, for example:

During work-day hours, were a person to be browsing a Business and Finance website, they found they had a 100% higher CTR rate by advertising things COMPLETELY out of context with what they are looking at: basically, these people are bored as shit and are eager for something to steal their attention. People on an entertainment website, are 100% more likely to click on something In context to what they are looking at.


When advertising gets too specific, too true, too all-knowing, its going to end up advertising a product that you either already have, or are already massively aware of and the advertising is then just a waste of time, and a result of an unnecessary harvesting of our daily life habits.

Thankfully, bandwidth still hinders attempts to personalize the TV ads you see based on viewing habits, but several outfits are trying to find a way to just route them that computer you're browsing on during the commercial break.

We're not going to stop it completely, but the least one can do is demand transperancy when we have the chance, and be given at least a sliver of an opportunity to opt out of this sort of thing.




http://taco.dubfire.net/
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/news/vam/blog/amazon-to-skip-phorms-targeted-advertising-in-uk/?cs=31849
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2008/04/study-shows-tar/

http://www.seochat.com/c/a/Website-Marketing-Help/How-and-Why-Behavioral-Advertising-Works/1/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10privacy.html?_r=1&ex=1362801600&en=11b07686f592a0c8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all