New legislation?

It is common knowledge that, over the past ten years, the Internet has, for lack of a better word, exploded. The immediacy of the medium has made it a staple for people worldwide, and because of the available users, it has also become a new medium for advertisers, one that they are learning how to embrace and use more and more each day. Advertising has become such a presence that it is garnering attention for the lengths that advertisers will go to in order to obtain consumer data, which has sparked a huge controversy.
The core of the issue with online advertising and collection of consumer data comes down to an issue of privacy, something that is tied in very closely with the invasiveness of advertising. Because the Internet is ever changing, the ways in which ads are placed have changed as well, something that is new to consumers. Television has commercials and infomercials, print media has print ads, and radio has commercials, all of which can be avoided—you can turn the page or the channel to find one without an advertisement. Internet, however, does not provide this option. Websites, with few exceptions, all feature advertisements: Flyers, banner ads, pop-ups, surveys, and a host of other types of advertising make it virtually impossible to escape.
The current controversy with online advertising is the collection of consumer data. This issue has recently been brought to light by New York assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who is attempting to pass legislation that would make it a “crime for certain Web companies to use personal information about consumers for advertising without their consent.” The issue is proving problematic because, although it is gaining support, a law passed by the New York Assembly would apply only to residents of New York, and so laws would likely have to change nationwide to protect all U.S. citizens from having their data sold or used by online agencies for specific targeting. The issue has the potential to severely hurt the online advertising industry, but due to the lack of federal regulations for Internet enterprise, the direction that the case takes is still very much to be determined. The Internet giants have differing responses: Microsoft is supporting the potential regulation, although Yahoo is resisting regulation, as they technically own the online territory that they are using data from. The advertising industry is also against the regulations, as it could put an end to a lot of their online practices. Internet advertising currently focuses on the use of targeted advertising, and online advertising becomes a great deal less appealing to advertisers if they are incapable of reaching their most desirable audience, particularly when it is a luxury that is already being enjoyed. A decline in online advertising has the potential to dramatically change the Internet landscape once again.
Although I disagree with the selling of consumer information without the consumers’ knowledge, I think that the issue becomes one of consumer understanding and how much knowledge online users can be expected to possess, something that changes drastically with each person. I know that when I enter my information on a website, for instance, setting up an email account, that by clicking “Submit,” I am willingly giving my information to whichever company owns the website I am on. This knowledge is not, however, universal, as it is such a new technology still that many people, especially those who did not grow up with it, are having a very hard time adjusting and are at times not as well informed on the issue. I do not know how much control the government can manage to maintain over the internet, but I am certainly interested as to how the FTC might handle such an issue, and what this could mean for cyberspace in the next ten years.

References: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10privacy.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/business/media/20adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin