I should ask every site on the internet that is tracking your behavioral information why they're doing it?
If you're publicly accusing them of doing so, and doing so for monetary gain, then yeah, it does seem like some measure of journalistic integrity would require at least a half-assed attempt at getting the other side of the story. Even TechCrunch shoots out an email so they can say that they asked the company what their side is.
If you're really searching for the truth, you should have approached them and asked, especially since your title is a question and you have this line in your post:
I can’t figure out why 37 Signals would be selling this information to ad networks.
Your post is making an implication that something nefarious is going on, without actually having the guts to come out and say it. Instead, you pretend to be confused, and state that you're really not sure what's going on. If that's actually the case, why not just ask them?
As it is, it appears that you think you do know what's going on, you want to stir the pot and get some publicity for your product, and by keeping it vague, you protect yourself if you're wrong.
Not interested in a flamewar but happy to follow-up and clarify.
1. I'm not a journalist.
2. The fact that Media6 Degrees, a behavorial targeter is on their site is binary. Look at the source, it's there, pretty simple.
3. See #2 for the truth.
4. Depends on your world view. For people who don't want to be targeted by behavioral ad networks this is nefarious. For those who don't care it isn't.
5. I couldn't care less about "getting publicity" for my product. It's free and I don't need the publicity.
The reason is that Typepad, which hosts their blog, does this on all their hosted blogs.
You could have found this out by asking 37signals, or doing some basic research. Instead you chose to fling feces their way and get some attention for your product.
If you're publicly accusing them of doing so, and doing so for monetary gain, then yeah, it does seem like some measure of journalistic integrity would require at least a half-assed attempt at getting the other side of the story. Even TechCrunch shoots out an email so they can say that they asked the company what their side is.
If you're really searching for the truth, you should have approached them and asked, especially since your title is a question and you have this line in your post:
I can’t figure out why 37 Signals would be selling this information to ad networks.
Your post is making an implication that something nefarious is going on, without actually having the guts to come out and say it. Instead, you pretend to be confused, and state that you're really not sure what's going on. If that's actually the case, why not just ask them?
As it is, it appears that you think you do know what's going on, you want to stir the pot and get some publicity for your product, and by keeping it vague, you protect yourself if you're wrong.