Over the last few months, behavioral advertising firm NebuAD has seen their entire business model implode. Charter, Embarq, CenturyTel, Knology, Wide Open West and others, all of whom were either testing or deploying behavioral advertising technology from NebuAD, have either suspended or terminated those plans. The decisions were prompted largely due to Congressional concerns that selling user browsing histories violates several Federal wiretap and privacy laws.

As you might expect, the fleeing business partners and bad press are having a nasty impact on NebuAD's finances. The Register notes that the company has given their PR agency the boot and laid off "a significant portion" of their workforce. Meanwhile, everyone continues trying to distance themselves from NebuAD -- including Google.

NebuAD could survive by creating an opt-out system that actually works and lobbying Congress to stay off their backs, but several members of Congress are working on regulation that would require all such behavioral advertising systems be opt-in. Obviously, if consumers were clearly informed of such systems (and not just alerted via fine print) ISPs and NebuAD would see a decline in revenue.