Markets

Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean Google, Facebook and Apple Aren't Out to Get You

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: March 30, 2010 / 2:25 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

If you feel like you're wearing a big bullseye on your back these days, it's because you are. Google (GOOG), Facebook and Apple (AAPL) all announced consumer targeting efforts in the last few days aimed at tracking your behavior on the Web and using it for advertising purposes. (And, of course, whatever else they can dream up.)

A summary:

Google's Remarketing tool: Will offer advertisers a cookie they can place on your machine whenever you visit an advertiser's page. If you go elsewhere on Google's content partners -- YouTube or CNN.com, for instance -- you'll continue to see that advertiser's ads whenever your behavior triggers a reason for it. Don't want to be stalked by Google's paymasters? You'll have to remember to opt out.
Facebook's new privacy settings: Will offer your Facebook information (friend lists, group lists, etc) to third party advertisers unless you opt out.
Apple's iAd: Is still a bit of a mystery, but the informed speculation is that it will offer advertisers a way to serve ads to you based on the location of your mobile device. The company will unveil it in full on April 7.

Ignoring consumers' desire for privacy on the Web used to be controversial. One company, Phorm, signed up three of Britain's largest I S P's to its behavioral tracking service and was nearly drummed out of the country. However, with the passage of time, it's still doing nicely, thank you very much. Today, Google monitors the books you read and no one seems to mind.

The incentives are all one way. The reason advertisers want to know what you're doing on the Web is because it doubles the effectiveness of the ads they show you.

On the other side, consumers who want to opt out face life as digital hermits, especially for those who only joined Facebook because so many other people were on it that it became impossible to communicate with them otherwise. As this MediaPost column notes, who, really, is going to give up Facebook?

But still, a handful of cranks such as outgoing FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour believe there may be a need for restrictions -- or at least more transparency -- on the ways in which advertisers spy on consumers.

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Image by Flickr user Alan Cleaver, CC.