Where were you online? Advertisers know

By Michele Gershberg

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Personal identity has taken on a new meaning in the digital age, where basic facts like your name, address or age are far less important to some people than the collected records of what you were looking at online.

Technologies for monitoring and interpreting Internet habits as a predictor of future behavior cropped up at the start of this century, but only now are gaining momentum as the newest gold mine for Web sites and their advertisers.

Known as behavioral targeting, the premise is to follow the sites you visit and build a picture of what products may interest you, then deliver related advertising in time for you to choose your purchase.

U.S. marketers will nearly double their spending on such advertising to $1 billion next year from $575 million in 2007, according to research firm eMarketer. By 2011, behavioral targeting will surge to nearly $3.8 billion of online ads.

Industry executives say it's a boon to the consumer, who in an ideal world will only receive commercial messages that suit them personally, while enjoying online entertainment or information for free.

"As long as I'm seeing relevant advertising and as long as I am receiving free content, I am a pretty happy person," said Bill Gossman, chief executive of behavioral targeting firm Revenue Science. The company's clients have included media outlets from Reuters Group Plc to Walt Disney Co.'s ABC News and Gannett Co. Inc.'s USA Today.

To protect individual privacy, U.S. companies who sell such services say they do not link the behavioral data with the actual names and addresses of computer users.

"We have no idea of who that individual is and I don't want to know," Gossman said. "What marketers want to know is, what is their intent?"