Facebook came under fire in November 2007 when it rolled out Beacon, an advertising program that was sharing users’ buying behavior as they traveled to third party Web sites.After wide public outcry led by the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org, the program was tanked. The site continues to display ads based on information users submit in their profiles, and questions about Web marketing practices remain.While it has always been marketers’ goal to find new ways of assailing us with their products, they have always been limited to the communication technologies of the day. Whether on television or radio, the relationship between the advertiser and the advertised was both one-way and passive.In this new age, however, where technology is irrevocably connected to our personal lives, advertisers have a new dynamic by which to push their products. Our digital connections have not only led to more advertising real estate for marketers but have also provided them with mountains of data about the collective consciousness of consumers.Companies like Google and Facebook have been at the forefront of the big business known as behavioral advertising.This new paradigm in advertising examines individual users’ behavior, such as which ads they click and what pages they view. By keeping tabs on the habits of users as they surf the Net, advertising networks can then display ads from a larger pool to target that user.These new advertising techniques go well beyond tailoring advertisements to individuals. Our Gmail inboxes and Facebook profiles are now not only billboards — they serve as depositories of our society, ripe for the pick’n for consumer research. Whether it is the popularity of a certain band or the number of times people get Rickrolled via e-mail, companies are recording and analyzing the most personal of information on the Web.While Google claims the information it collects is not used to identify you personally, it can share information “such as the number of users who searched for a particular term, for example, or how many users clicked on a particular advertisement,” according to its privacy policy.Admittedly, the ability of behavioral targeting to limit those advertisements which are irrelevant to us has obvious benefits. After all, being subjected to ads about retractable awnings is a waste of time. Advertising in many cases is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both business and consumers.We must use caution.  The consequences of a society in which we receive only those advertisements relevant to us are difficult to predict. Will our society enter a new age of consumerism because of limitless relevancy of advertising? We must recognize the potential for abuse that comes with data collection through behavioral advertising.Businesses will have the opportunity to target the most vulnerable people in our society with predatory business practices. For example, the most susceptible individuals to credit card debt will be targeted with the credit cards that have the most usurious interest rates. In this day of questionable gimmicks, mail-in rebates and fine print, there will be a real social inequity if advertisements are not subject to the criticism of all consumers.With an economy reeling from a mortgage meltdown, this point should be particularly striking — Would the problem not be worse if, targeting an easily influenced group, advertisers were able to peddle even more of their sub-prime mortgages?While there is no substitute for personal responsibility, we should be apprehensive to giving any advantage to enterprising scalawags — the consequences of whose actions we still feel today.The potential abuses of collecting users’ most personal information and habits go well beyond the realm of marketing. The Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet watchdog, points out that the information collected by Google and others pose particular problems for individuals’ privacy because it can be accessed by law enforcement with only a subpoena.In response to the growing concerns about these practices, Yahoo joined Google earlier this month to allow users to opt out of “customized” advertising. The new policy allows users to avoid the ads determined by their behavior.While this is certainly a step in the right direction, there are still questions about how companies will use the aggregate information they collect. In addition, an opt in system would be preferred with a majority of users unaware of these practices.The marriage between information — whether personally identifiable or not — and entities seeking to maximize their revenues has the potential for disaster.It would be glib to say behavioral advertising is inherently evil. Rather, we must recognize such methods could bring with them grave consequences — many of which are unforeseeable.—-contact Mark Macmurdo at [email protected]