What would Pavlov say?

Those with opinions on the FTC's behavioral targeting guidelines have only days to go before the deadline for input.

15 parties have weighed in on the principles put forth by the Federal Trade Commission. Most called for clarification on what constitutes behavioral advertising. Also, a clearer distinction must be made between primary and third-party ad targeting.

One of the parties that has submitted comment is Google, which thinks the guidelines' interpretation of "behavioral advertising" is too broad and could be applied to any form of ad targeting, including its core contextual and keyword-based products.

Guidelines that are too broad could also tamper with the use of widgets, since the standards impact delivery of third-party content on a web page.

Data retention is a problem too. The FTC proposes a standard length of time by which firms can retain data, but as agency ZAAZ points out, different industries have different business cycles. A standard length would negatively impact both.

The ANA and nine other advertising industry trade groups also filed comments reflecting their opinion: that consumer privacy can be protected through self-regulation and establishment of best practices. Their comments included the rather common argument that better-targeted ads are a benefit to consumers, and new rules should not interfere with that.

The FTC expects many comments to come in at the last minute. A number of parties, including Yahoo, said they'll submit their feedback either Thursday or Friday, the last day for submissions.