New Marketing Technology?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304159304575184270077115444.html?mod=djem_jiewr_swwgn_042210

So I just recently found this article in the journal (link above) about how companies like ebay are trying to tap into the social networking hype to find data on potential customers through the friends of their current customers. There is this small startup called 33Across that analyzes data from social networking sites like facebook using tracking cookies that track how current customers and their friends interact with one another so that they can strategically target ads in the right places. For example, say an ebay customer shares a movie review with a friend. The firm then can place a cookie on the friend’s browser so that specific ads that might interest the individual will pop up when they visit certain sites.
As social ties can greatly influence a person’s purchase decisions (think about the whole word of mouth marketing channel), naturally, advertisers are all over this. Many critics have found this to be an invasion of privacy and I would have to agree. I think this is taking the whole idea of using CRM as a tool to gauge your customers’ preferences to a whole new level. CRM tools are ok as they are used to better serve customers and, more importantly, it has more transparency as customers usually are aware of such capabilities. However, this these tracking cookies are similar to predators who stalk you waiting for opportune times to attack with an annoying ad.