Ads With Your Name On Them

eldavojohn writes "The NYTimes is running an interesting blog piece on the answers Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, & Google gave to the question: Can they show you an ad with your name on it? The results: 'Microsoft says it could use only a person's first name [which it doesn't consider personal information]. AOL and Yahoo could use a full name but only on their sites, not the other sites on which they place ads. Google isn't sure; it probably could, but it doesn't know the names of most of its users.' Now whether or not they would use this information is a different story. AOL has no plans to, Yahoo is open to it, and Microsoft has implemented a technological barrier preventing it (despite behavioral and demographic data being served to the ad companies). Although Google might use name information at some point, they don't now do so; nor do they use behavioral or demographic data."

Comments

Now that MS bought aQuantive

[riskeetee]

Your first name isn't personal information. Your address is available on a map, so that's public information too. Heck, your SSN is given to you by the government, so that's not technically yours either! Wait until your GPS-enabled cell phone buzzes when you walk into a McDonalds: "Say, Bob, are you sure you want to eat here? Your cholesterol is 224. Subway is just around the corner. Mention this ad and you'll get 10% off!"