[makomk]

You may not even have to go to that length - ask people if they want online ads to be more relevant to their interests and quite a lot would probably say yes, if only to get away from all the obnoxious monkey-punching Flash ads.

[kenjackson]

Of course people want ads to be more relevant, but at what cost. You want your TV ads to be more relevant, but you probably don't want someone living with you to report to the networks what interests you each day.

Ask people the question straight up: "Do you want more relevant ads, where relevancy is determined by tracking cookies that track what sites you go to on the web." I bet most people say, "Give me the less relevant ads".

[natrius]

Your hypothetical is excellent. I think most people would choose the relevant ads because there are more factors at play. Consider television. If people could give networks information about themselves in exchange for only having to watch one well-targeted, high revenue ad, most people would give their information.

[Dylan16807]

I agree. If you let me pick a couple ad categories to be shown to me, like electronics/programming/whatever, I can see myself agreeing. But I don't want you recording my activity.

[huggyface]

You want your TV ads to be more relevant, but you probably don't want someone living with you to report to the networks what interests you each day.

Is your analogy perhaps a bit ridiculous?

Tell most people that their PVR is going to report usage data and most would click yes in an instant. Most don't care if some faceless corporation knows how much American Chopper they watch. Many applications (including Apple and Microsoft products) start their journey with a user with the notification that usage data is going to be reported. I am just guessing, but I would wager that 99%+ click okay to that.