The New York Times ran this interesting piece suggesting that Facebook’s new ad platform “may be illegal under a 100-year-old New York privacy law.”

Undoubtedly there will be some legal issues involved with Facebook’s ad plan, and a “cyber superbug” or two similar to what hit MySpace this week can make things pretty ugly pretty quickly.

But beyond New York State law, I suspect Facebook may bump up against federal laws, too. Do Facebook Social Ads qualify as buzz marketing? In the eyes of some, probably. And given the large population of Facebook users who are minors, the FTC might have something to say about it.

Here’s a link to a Chief Marketer piece about buzz marketing that may get you thinking about Facebook ads in a slightly different way.

“Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better.”
—George Santayana

It’s the final day of ad:tech New York. I always feel sorry for the people presenting on the final day, as all the exhibitors and at least half the attendees seem to have fled the city by now. Nevertheless, I’ll be blogging the following sessions over on the ad:tech blog:

Extending Your Reach: Leveraging Mobile Content to Drive Brand Message.

eCommerce Marketing: The Art of Customer Acquisition.

It’s day two (for me) of ad:tech New York and I’ll be blogging the following sessions over on the ad:tech blog:

Creating Talkability: Using WOM Lessons to Make Your Marketing Go Viral.

Defensive Branding 101: Troubleshooting Your Brand in the Age of Consumer Control.

The Online Female Consumer.

It’s time once again for ad:tech New York and once again I’ll be blogging it for AdRants over on the ad:tech blog. (Thanks, Steve.) I’ll update this post with news from the show as it develops.

UPDATE: The show is set up a little differently this year, with today being the last day of the exhibit hall, and most of the presentations back-loaded into tomorrow and Thursday. That makes today a good day to spend time in the exhibit hall, which is overflowing with ad networks, lead generators, ad networks, affiliate marketers and ad networks, all punctuated — quite literally — by Matthew Lesko, the infomercial dude in the suit covered with question marks who was clearly looking for new ways to help spread the word about free money and government grants.

Overheard on the exhibit floor (all quotes guaranteed authentic): “We can build a customized solution” . . . “Oh, yeah, we’re involved in that stuff all the time” . . . “So, it’s all performance-based?” “Ummmmm” . . . “When it really comes down to it, it’s all the same thing” . . . “Like anything else, it just takes a media kit, I guess” . . . “I’m formerly with AOL.”