| In Google's "free the airwaves" campaign, the | | | | debate concerning the Internet, in the case of |
| California-based search giant is seeking to open up | | | | behavioural targeting and NebuAd in the US, the |
| a spectrum of white space surrounding the United | | | | outcome of which has had many people |
| States, thereby speeding up Internet access and | | | | reconsidering their perceptions of privacy as they |
| productivity. Google proposes to actually open | | | | relate to the net. NebuAd, and many other |
| airwaves allocated to television prior to World War | | | | advertising platforms worldwide, work by |
| II, making way for the emergence of valuable | | | | analysing specific page hits, and the time spent on |
| new wireless technologies that are otherwise | | | | pages and type of queries entered into search |
| blocked due to artificial spectrum scarcity. Other | | | | engines in order to deliver targeted, effective ads |
| backers of the "white-space campaign" include | | | | via ad networks. |
| Intel, Microsoft and Motorola, all of whom support | | | | During the transition between print and packet, or |
| the concept of a faster and more efficient | | | | TV and typepad, many major media outlets have |
| Internet in the sustainable future. | | | | suffered from not being able to know the |
| The Search giant erected a site that called upon | | | | component of their audiences. As Kent Ertugrul, |
| consumers to sign a petition urging the United | | | | CEO of an ad serving platform in the UK, |
| States Federal Communications Commission to | | | | commented, "The problem for newspapers is that |
| approve the "white-space" plan. It would allow high | | | | a story headlined 'Two Dead in Baghdad' isn't very |
| speed wireless Internet access on unused portions | | | | product-friendly. But if you know who is looking at |
| of airwaves between television signals beginning at | | | | the page, that's where the opportunity is." |
| the close of 2009, after broadcasters have | | | | According to a recent SEO Roundtable discussion, |
| undergone integration to the web. Currently, 95% | | | | speaker Robert Murray mentioned that 84% of |
| of the available broadcasting television signals are | | | | people integrate a company name into a web |
| unused, and on their site, Google offers "proof | | | | address prominently, while 66% simply co-ordinate |
| that wireless spectrum can be opened without | | | | it. Only 26% are using the same keywords offline |
| harming existing broadcasts." And yet, they are | | | | as they are online - which is a shocking statistic |
| meeting with significant resistance from traditional | | | | for those supporting a world of behavioural |
| media; specifically those who are opposed to | | | | advertising and 100% filled wireless airspace. And |
| shifting across technologies. | | | | so for the moment, the battle rages on. |
| This latest clash of giants is mirrored in another | | | | |