Online advertisers scale back targeted ads amid privacy complaints, study finds

Online advertisements that target users' browsing histories may be more effective, but many companies are now scaling back those ad campaigns to avoid public backlash, according to a new study.

A report by the Ponemon Institute, released this week, finds that most companies agree online behavior-based advertisements are 50 percent more effective than standard, run-of-the-mill ad campaigns. However, these advertisers are using these behavior-based ads 75 percent less than they would prefer, the study notes. Those fears seem to stem in part from the growing number of interest groups pushing lawmakers and federal officials to regulate targeted ads. Three in particular -- the U.S. PIRG, Center for Digital Democracy and the World Privacy Forum -- even urged the Federal Trade Commission in early April to probe whether Google, Yahoo and others are wrongly tracking or profiting from users' online behavior.