You're not looking at the whole picture

July 15, 2009 by Dave Haynes

I agree that a lot of the press hype surrounding “ads that watch YOU” is just that — hype. But there are some serious legal and ethical considerations that nobody has addressed yet. A very short list includes the questionable legality of the re-use of information acquired for security purposes, many practices that violate the findings of the FTC Behavioral Advertising Report of 1990/91 (yes, it’s old, but it’s still on file), and the ability to collect data from HIPAA-compliant sites (e.g. pharmacies, or even pharmacies inside supermarkets).

We as marketers aren’t going to get away from skirting the law forever, nor should we try. If we want to keep using all the cool gadgets and gizmos that come out each year, we have to be responsible, or else somebody else is going to *make* us be responsible, and that is definitely not the direction we want to go in.

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