Privacy issues out in the open in today's NYT
Consumer privacy issues are all over today's New York Times -- in a frontpage piece about personalized cellphone advertising (heavily featuring solution provider Quattro Wireless) and in a business section article about behavioral targeting (how Google will begin showing ads based on the searcher's previous online activities).These are issues that we cover regularly here at DMNews -- but for the average NYT reader, some of the "revelations" uncovered will be a surprise. The question is, how much of a concern are these issues for consumers? At the moment, it seems like behavioral targeting is the bigger worry among privacy advocates, but with more and more consumers using smartphones, I assume that more will demand a better understanding about what they are opting-in for.
As Mike Wehrs, the chief executive of the Mobile Marketing Association, says, mobile is an "amazingly fast-moving industry." It remains to be seen whether mobile -- or online advertising, for that matter -- can keep up with both the marketing opportunities and the consumer privacy issues at hand.
