Behave yourself

Monitoring and online behavior interpretation technology are gaining momentum as advertisers struggle to fashion new models for better targeting, per the Globe and Mail.

US marketers are expected to double spending on behavioral advertising models from $575 million in 2007 to $1 billion next year, according to eMarketer. And by 2011, behavioral targeting will hit upwards of $3.8 billion in online ad spend.

Companies purveying these services purport to protect individual privacy by opting not to link behavioral data with the names and addresses of Web surfers.

Critics, however, insist such efforts will only encourage corporations to accumulate more and more behavioral data - online and elsewhere.

"The picture isn't complete until you literally plant tracking devices inside somebody's arm,” said analyst Emily Riley of JupiterResearch. "When I go to the mall, nobody at Google is going to know what stores I have visited."