When I visit digg, I most often get ads for shoes available at Cole Haan and Nine West. Incidentally, I happen to like shoes from those retailers, and although I don't really need to buy new shoes, I find myself clicking through on occasion to see what's goin' on in the world of overpriced footwear. One could say I'm the perfect victim for targeted advertising, and I would agree.

These days, the only Internet users who aren't aware that some of their activities are being tracked and used for marketing purposes are those who just joined yesterday. In fact, almost three-quarters of those surveyed by TNS Global on behalf of consumer privacy organization TRUSTe said that they are aware that their browsing history "may be collected" for advertising purposes. They're not necessarily happy about it, though, and almost all have indicated that they would like to have more of a say in how their information is used.

TNS randomly selected 1,015 nationally representative adults in the US "whose households belong to TNS's online consumer panel" for its survey. Although only 40 percent of the group was familiar with the term "behavioral targeting," most users were well aware of the practice. 57 percent reported that they weren't comfortable their activities tracked for advertising purposes, even if the information couldn't be tied to their names or real-life identities.



Shocking! A Cole Haan ad, again

Simultaneously, 72 percent of those surveyed said that they find online advertising annoying when the ads are not relevant to their needs, and 87 percent of the group said that under a quarter of ads are well-targeted towards them. 58 percent said that zero to 10 percent of ads are well-targeted.

TRUSTe notes that this attitude presents a conundrum for advertisers, who are simultaneously being told that consumers want to see more relevant ads but don't want to have their activities tracked in order to make those ads relevant. "[N]o matter how much we assure anonymity, there is still significant discomfort with the idea of tracking," TRUSTe executive director Fran Maier said in a statement. "We have a solid indication that consumers want us to find a way to get them the advertising that is relevant to them. In order to do this, behavioral targeting is one of the most promising methods, but at the very least, it has to be made more transparent, provide choices, and deliver real value."

In fact, an overwhelming majority (91 percent) of the respondents said that they would be willing to act in one way or another to help ensure better privacy when it comes to targeted advertising if presented with the proper tools. 64 percent said that they would willingly view ads from a list of online stores and brands that they know, and 44 percent said that they would "click buttons or icons to make that happen." On the flip side, another 42 percent said that they would opt out of any and all tracking if they could, even if they had to view ads that weren't as relevant to them.

TRUSTe believes that education is the key to striking a balance between behavioral targeting and privacy, although the organization does not go into detail about what that education would entail. Still, given the level of scrutiny that behaviorally targeted advertising has gotten over the last few years, more transparency on the part of marketers could go a long way in smoothing over relations with the customers they hope to woo.

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