Should You Control the Use of Your Information

    Something new has come up - it is called "behavioral advertising".   I'm not that familiar with it, but maybe you are.     If my facts are correct, this concerns the use of information that a consumer inputs on the web through website visits and purchases, and how the advertiser uses it to customize advertising to that consumer. 

    This is important to all of us as consumers, and of course as small business owners.    We should be able to control what information about us or our businesses is collected, if we want it collected, and how we want it used.   It seems simple to me that the easiest way to deal with this now is for advertisers to seek advance consent for data collection.   If you purchase music or books on line, for example, and want to receive recommendations of other similar products - great; if you don't want it - then you should be able to specify that you do not want your information collected and retained for future use.  

     There was a hearing recently by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on this very issue.  I was glad to see that   AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon all testified as witnesses and all agreed that consumers should be made aware of any on-line tracking before it begins and have the option to allow it or not.  

     Let me know your feedback on this.   It is becoming increasingly important for us to pay attention to privacy matters such as this.