Patrolling Bad Behavior

The government may soon wield a great deal more power over the online advertising business, and that's quickly spreading fear across the entire ecosystem, including publishers, ad networks, agencies and even their clients.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) is set to introduce a consumer privacy bill over the next few weeks that will likely impact the entire $25 billion online ad market. And while that's got many worried, another seemingly unrelated piece of legislation -- the proposed financial reform bill aimed at cleaning up Wall Street -- has industry insiders sweating. Baked into that bill is language that would grant expanded powers to the Federal Trade Commission, which could theoretically go after shady advertisers or data abusers faster, hit them harder and punish any other companies that enabled their illegitimate activities.