TechCrunch highlights Root.net, a service that aims to be the “first open market for the pricing and exchange of realtime consumer data.” That sounds exactly right. It leverages the Attention Trust platform which is (simplifying a bit) a recorder that plugs into Firefox and records your clickstream locally and gives you controls to manage what is kept and what isn’t. The idea is that by putting you into control of your data and offering you incentives to share some of it, they create a market for advertisers, publishers, and consumers to exchange information. Advertising gets better and more relevant for you and because you’re in control, theoretically you control what you want to share. You can read more about the guiding principles of the Attention Trust non-profit if you like.

Whether this sounds great or creepy I think depends entirely on either your sense of paranoia or your concern about privacy issues. At first blush, this would seem a bit Big Brotherish. When you think about this, though, most people are already giving this kind of data away. On an opt-in level, anyone that has the Google or Yahoo toolbars installed with certain features (e.g. PageRank) activated is already giving away this information. Heck, Alexa, owned now by Amazon, has turned this data collection into products. Companies such as WebSideStory or Nielsen could probably generate similar information depending on the penetration of their stats services. Google is also getting close because of the popularity of their ad service.

Regardless, though, I won’t be trying this thing except to perhaps play around with it. I pretty much fall to the more concerned about privacy side of life. I realize how much data I “give” away so the thought of actively aiding that process doesn’t sound like something I want to be a part of. Second, I think the benefit to consumers is pretty lame. I don’t want better targeted ads. I want less ads bombarding me. I don’t think a market that monetizes combining users and advertisers and publishers wants fewer of those interactions, which is ultimately what I want.

I’m still keeping my mind open, because the people involved are good, honest, and bright people. For now, I just don’t think this is for me.