I found this article from MediaPost.com about "behavioral marketing" (that's the term that companies like Claria (Gator), Bonzi Buddy, WhenU, etc came up with to obfuscate their real actions.
Debra Aho Williamson, from Advertising Age, tries to poo-poo people's privacy concerns by saying that people's privacy is not invaded, but we've seen time and time again how the companies have admitted that they're watching you, where you surf, and what you're doing on the web.
She also chooses to ignore the fact that spyware and adware and malware tends to make your computer unstable, run slower, more crash-prone, is just flat-out annoying (oh look, I have 10 pop-ups to kill, why won't they go away?), and most importantly, deceptive. When you install some software Claria doesn't tell you "We're going to throw a bunch of pop-ups at you while you surf the internet, advertising stuff you don't want." Bonzi Buddy doesn't warn you before you install "We're like junkmail, but only much more intrusive".
As a representative of advertising firms and the industry as a whole, Debra Williamson would like you to ignore those facts. She just wants you to think that Claria and WhenU just want to be your friends.
What a load of crap.
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