A study by comScore on behalf of The New York Times shows more information than ever is being gathered on people's online behavior.

The collection of user behavior by advertisers has hit all-time highs, something relished by advertisers but bemoaned by privacy advocates.

The difference between today and two years ago is that visitors have their entire online experience profiled today. Previously advertisers and publishers were confined to seeing what people did and where they went on their own sites. But now a fuller picture can be painted through behavioral tracking and the advent of controversial platforms like Beacon.

Advertisers say a more complete picture improves the user experience because more data yields fewer, more relevant ads on the front-end. But privacy groups say people don't know what information they're giving away and haven't opted in to such collection.

Publishers and media companies lag far behind companies like Google in the sheer amount of user data collected, which some consider a major reason for Google's lead in ad sales. The gap, and problems with building the infrastructure to quickly close it, are why some analysts say publishers need to partner with a major portal to outsource ad sales.

The comScore study looked solely at involuntary data collection and not instances when someone signs up for a newsletter and enters information themselves.