Online marketing companies: do we give them enough information about our lives? Emily Steel, a 24-year-old reporter for the WSJ, bravely uses herself as a guinea pig to determine that, no, these shadowy firms don't know quite enough about us to be able to target us with ads effectively. If the threat of missing out on perfectly customized ads doesn't convince Americans to throw open our private data to unaccountable corporations, I don't know what will: A couple of ad targeting firms let Steel look at what they had on her, and guess what: it was not totally accurate! They guessed that she liked luxury boats and was a newlywed, when actually she just had friends getting married, and has no boat. That's because tracking can't follow you across different computers, and guessing about demographics based on internet cookies is an inexact science. You might think that keeping these people in the dark would be a good thing, but Emily gives props to the firm that correctly pegs her as "someone who spends time exercising and socializing at bars and nightclubs." Psht, well that's not exactly ESP territory. She ends with this:

Meanwhile, marketers, here is some free intelligence about me that you won't find in my Revenue Science or Acxiom profile: I'm a bargain shopper who loves reading fiction, and I'm a huge Tar Heels fan. And for the last several months, I've been scouring the Web for running gear. I'll be looking for the targeted ads.

As soon as every other American writes a WSJ feature on their shopping preferences we'll have this whole industry straightened out. [WSJ; pic via]