Two New York University grad students Nien Lam and Sue Ngo have created a high-tech sweatshirt that indicates when the person wearing it is exposed to pollutants such as car exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke. Thin blue veins appear within the pink heart or lungs on the front of the shirt, showing exposure to pollution in real time. 
Understandably, this has made some of Lam and Ngo’s fellow students who smoke uncomfortable as it serves as a strong reminder of the harm they are doing to their bodies every time they go out for a cigarette. And while Web surfing isn’t necessarily bad for one’s health, being reminded that one’s online activity is being monitored by a third party can certainly make Internet users equally uncomfortable.
This puts us marketers in a bit of a difficult position. Behavioral advertising, or the tracking of an individual’s online browsing behavior in order to display personalized ads, can be a good way to increase the effectiveness of an online marketing campaign. But it can also be a good way to freak out and annoy our target audience, and show them that we have no regard for their privacy.
And now as Google and Mozilla prepare to introduce opt-out features for their respective Chrome and Firefox browsers, it promises to get a little interesting. Things won’t be as straightforward as the National Do Not Call Registry that allows individuals to block calls from telemarketers. For starters, users don’t always access the Internet using the same computer or IP address and third-party advertisers and publishers will need to actively agree not to monitor users who have opted out.
How do you think things will eventually turn out? Will the user, advertisers and publishers, and companies such as Google and Mozilla be able to find common ground? Or will the user be forced to give up some of his or her privacy for an optimal user experience?
Photo credit: Kt Ann
