For work, I’m reading the book Permission Marketing, by Seth Godin. Generally speaking, it’s a pretty good book that discusses marketing strategies that work in an economy where attention is the scarcest commodity. I think all marketing people should read it, because it recommends that they treat their customers with respect. Interestingly, while the book was written at least a year ago, the author predicts exactly (starting on page 133) the DoubleClick situation where an advertising network uses its placement on many sites to track user activity, and then uses its affiliation with sites where users register to map their Web activity to their real name and other information. The only difference between his prediction and reality is that he says Imgis will be the company that brings this about. I hadn’t been paying attention, but perhaps they’re doing the same thing DoubleClick does. (In the book, he argues strenuously against this type of activity as it squanders the “permission” given to companies by their customers.)