Who Needs Behavioral Targeting

BusinessWeek is reporting (via WaPo) on National legislation that would restrict behavioral targeting of web advertising. This legislation could impact how web analytics companies track surfers. You might think I would be worried, but I am not and here is why:

• Some web analytics companies are also advertising companies. The legislation is targets at advertisers. I think statzen would be immune because we are focusing on providing great analytics, not ads.
• Most web analytics are tracking visitors. We keep an eye on the visitors, but we are mostly watching the content. The difference here is key. If we were to target ads it most likely not be based on visitor behavior but on targeting the content that gets the most attention.
• This could shake up the web analytics and advertising industry. A shake up gives us the opportunity to redefine some things.

I knew this kind of legislation was coming. I think New York state was the first to propose it. I am pretty excited to see how it plays out.