The Federal Trade Commission is looking at setting guidelines on behavioral targeting, which is when ads on an internet site are based on the internet habits of that site’s user. Behavioral targeting uses companies that track the internet activities of potential consumers, which raises privacy questions.

The Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey reports that monitoring consumers’ online habits is a necessity for most internet sites, which struggle to generate ad revenue. Newspaper web sites, for example, even hold out hope that targeting will stay legal because it generates needed revenue. Online news readers, on the other hand, might not like to know they’re being watched as they browse to the next site.  Read Whoriskey here.  MB

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