Google has trouble. Its Gmail service, which targets ads based (in part) on the content of e-mails sent by subscribers, is taking a great deal of fire. Everyone is being asked their opinion.

But there's a problem with the attention. It lets those without big names get off scot-free.

Take aQuantive, for instance. Don't know them? Well, they used to be known as Avenue A, and under that name they were one of the great big names in Internet advertising.

It seems aQuantive has begun doing something very much like what Gmail does, They call it Drive Peformance Media. It combines web logs with tracking to profile individual users and send them ads based on their perceived interests.

The folks at aQuantive will go to great lengths to insist they're not identifying specific users, just using data to serve them, but isn't Gmail doing the exact same thing? And if a company like Avenue A came out with a big press conference (and big shrimp) to announce to the world its breakthrough (in hope of securing new investment, or public investment) we would all be screaming bloody murder.

But they do it quietly, they let Google take the heat.

It's the penalty for having a big name.