Am I the only one who is not excited about Yahoo’s new move: enhanced behavioral targeting for ads?

For instance, a person who searches for information on cars is likely to be sent an auto ad, Coleman said.

Traditionally, Yahoo’s advertising targeting have focused on customer demographics or geographic location instead of behavior.

Advertisers will pay more for placement of the right ad at the right time at the right place, said Coleman, who emphasized that the targeting would be done anonymously based on behavior.

I have some questions:

1. Do I have to be logged in for this tracking to take place or is it done by a cookie?
2. How do I opt out?
3. Will users be informed this behavioral tracking is taking place?

This isn’t about giving the user a better browsing experience. This is about Yahoo charging more money for ad placement. What companies don’t seem to get is that users don’t care whether or not it is done anonymously or not…we don’t want it happening at all. WSJ reported that Yahoo has sold out their front page advertising for months in advance.

I detest greedy companies.