privacy

Despite plenty of conversation and posturing, we're a long way from regulations or even standards for a "Do Not Track" registry as pushed by the Federal Trade Commission.

If "Do Not Track" were to come about, would that be the end of many of the ad targeting forms we have seen evolve on the web, in email marketing and elsewhere on the Internet?

I doubt it.

Geographic targeting gets better with each new consumer conversion from proxied dial-up accounts to broadband. If you visit a site using home DSL, cable or fiber access, or use the mobile web via a 3G or 4G connection, chances are the broadband Internet provider sends along a host name that at least reveals what town you're in, if not what part of town. This targetable -- though not personally identifiable -- bit of information goes to the site even if you use a browser that successfully anonymizes you and your computer.