According to CNet, “The Washington-based U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Center for Digital Democracy have asked the Federal Trade Commission to review–and ideally restrict–what they describe as a growing online business model dependent on technologies that “aggressively track us wherever we go, creating data profiles to be used in ever-more sophisticated and personalized ‘one-to-one’ targeting schemes.”

They say that we consumers are helpless against “techniques–including data gathering and mining, audience targeting and tracking–that render users all but defenseless before the sophisticated assault of new-media marketing”

The group argues that even if ad trackers don’t have personally identifiable information, “companies effectively know enough about users to track every move they make, erasing the possibility of truly anonymous browsing,”

Scary shit. You can read the full 50 page complaint here. Remember, big marketing is watching.

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