“Tracking is the retention of information that can be used to connect records of a person's actions or reading habits across space, cyberspace, or time.”
Sounds ominous. Yet the EFF hastens to point out there are times when tracking our whereabouts on the Internet can be helpful. For example:
Making return visits to a Website convenient, by remembering previous viewing parameters
Simplifying online transactions by retaining information about selected items while allowing users to continue shopping
Take a second to consider this: The group fighting everyday to protect our privacy feels that certain types of online tracking are beneficial.
It helps me to think of this type of tracking as “remembering.” Actually, that’s exactly what it is. And simple remembering is benign. That’s because a first-party relationship is preserved. Michael Hanson of Mozilla Labs explains:
A first-party relationship is established between a web user and a website with the user's awareness, and presumably, consent. In the most obvious cases, this relationship involves creating an account and logging in to a site.
I can just hear my colleagues: “OK, Kassner, what gives? For years, you have been telling us that tracking is bad.”
Well, there is a dark side. It consists of relationships based on third-party tracking. Once again, I’ll let Mr. Hanson explain:
A third-party relationship is one that exists between a web user and some website because of actions taken by another website. When a user visits a new site, which directs the user's browser to open an image from an ad network's site, the relationship is third-party. In many cases, the user does not know that the relationship exists. [Emphasis added.]
The bold phrases above are hints. Something is messing with our Web browsers. Google’s DoubleClick cookie is a prime example of a third-party relationship:
When users visit a partner's website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user's browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help better serve and manage ads on the publisher's site(s) and across the web. [Emphasis added.]
Ever wonder how a Website you visited for the first time knows to serve ads from a Website you were just at? You can thank third-party tracking. The process is officially called behavioral or targeted advertising. Based on collected data (browsing habits, search queries, and Website history), advertisers can serve up relevant ads for your viewing pleasure.
To many that’s OK. If they have to view ads, they would prefer them to be of interest. I can’t argue that point.
I do have concerns, though: What else is done with the data? How is it protected? These are concerns I addressed in my previous blog, Why 'Do Not Track' May Be a Waste of Time. The EFF shares my apprehension and is exploring the legal issues surrounding online tracking:
EFF views online behavioral tracking as a serious privacy issue for a simple reason: much user activity on the Internet is First Amendment activity—reading, speaking, associating with others—and we should therefore understand it as highly sensitive in terms of intellectual, expressional, and associational privacy.
What I’d like to see are choices. Let me decide whether online tracking is something I want to allow or not.
In my previous Internet Evolution post cited above, I mentioned Dr. Arvind Narayanan and his associate, Jonathan Mayer. They are working on a potential solution. And the Federal Trade Commission recognizes this approach as being effective and simple to use. Stay tuned.
— Michael Kassner is a writer and consultant specializing in information security.
Yeah, very true. But, there are set up Web portals that allow law enforcement officials to ping cell phones and find their location based on GPS. And, it's not just Apple that can track you, but also Google, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T are a few. If you want to get serious about cell phone location privacy, then it's important to ask not only what Apple is doing, but what every company in the mobile industry is doing, especially the wireless carriers. And, more importantly, how quickly are these companies handing over your cell phone location data to law enforcement?
Amazon is almost too good. I just need to look something up for a friend, or out of curiosity, or because someone asked me to use my account to get a present - and it never forgets. You would derive a very strange personality profile from my Amazon "preferences". And maybe that's not such a bad thing. It certainly wouldn't be recognizable as me.
Amazon is quite incredible that way. And, I'm okay with it, if they keep the data in house. If I learn that they are selling it, anonymized or not. I will withdraw my approval right fast.
I really think you're on to something here. For legislators to draft a bill with real teeth you need a critical mass of popular support. Crowds in the street with torches shouting "We're mad as hell..."
Instead, what we've got is some people who are uneasy but can't point to widespread abuses or unacceptable practices. Yet. I think they'll eventually start to appear. And maybe that's the way it should be. Any comprehensive legislation needs to be based on specific patterns of abuse rather than on things that *might* happen. The field is a rapidly moving target.
The other thing to consider is that people are already accustomed to doing deals with the devil. Supermarket loyalty cards that track your purchases in exchange for a couple of bucks off. Helpful emails from Amazon telling them that their favorite author just released a new book. Some people hate these things (I have a friend who regularly rants to me that Amazon tells her about things she actually likes) but for every person who finds this level of tracking discomforting there are five who think it's just fine.
Over time all this will shake out. I suspect that version 3 or 4 of an Internet tracking law will be pretty good.
At least the decision would be given to the people for once.
Currently, there's a huge case before the U.S. Supreme Court about mining databases that include our prescription records. It may seem unrelated to tracking. But, it has been proven over and over again that the supposedly anonymized data retained in both circumstances isn't remotely anonymous.
While I'm most likely being track in helpful and nefarious ways, my hope is that somehow tracking could be legislated to enabled only for ways the helps the user.
If the tracking is for the benefit for anyone else, be it governement or business, it should only be allowed with full and complete disclosure to those being tracked.
And will full disclosure i don't think many would opt in for tracking, unless there's some sort of reward involved to enable tracking.
Although this is my ideal scheme of things, I don't ever see it happening. There will always be a fight between business and governernment priorties and public.
How about polling citizens online for nationwide input on such measures, 2/3 majority wins?
I felt as you do for a long time. Then I started asking, really asking people what they felt about this. Things disconnect at that point.
"Joe the mechanic" or "Jill the restaurant owner" are happy to figure out Facebook or email. And that's after they are sure their businesses and families are okay. Ask them about "Do Not Track" and you get the "huh" look.
I see this as being the results of no longer having to individually fix (self-sufficiency) and understand the inner workings of technology. I chuckle at myself (afterwards) when my car won't start and I lift the hood. Just exactly what do I think I can do?
You know that when commercial entities get behind it. It's more about regulating usage of DRM than tracking. The other issue: The bill regulates targeted ads not actual tracking. The EFF points out:
"This bill fails to address many of the issues surrounding pervasive online tracking that have been raised by privacy advocates, explored in the Wall Street Journal's What They Know series, and highlighted by the FTC's recent Privacy Report. The bill's most glaring defect is its emphasis on regulation of information use and sharing, rather than on the collection of data in the first place. For example, the bill would allow a user to opt out of third-party ad targeting based on tracking - but not third-party tracking."
It is another example of a bill taking on a popular name to gain acceptance, but has nothing to do with original intent. Sigh.
For me, the real question is do enough people really care. Because until that happens and people start making decisions with their wallets, then it is unlikely that much will change.
As has been repeatedly shown, web browsers send all kinds of basic information each time they access a website (operating system, browser version, plug-ins, IP, etc). That information alone allows a savvy data-miner to uniquely indentify that user across multiple sites. And this is without any "tracking" cookies or other technologies being implemented on those sites.
Marketing companies have ALWAYS used tools to identify and market to people. It is highly unlikely that this will change as it becomes easier to track people's activities. Again, I ask, do enough people care that they received targetted advertising?
Unless it encroaches in some really personal space (like medical histories), I doubt it. Many people actually appreciate it regardless of the medium (tv, online, etc).
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Would blacklisting banks stop spam? Consider these statistics: 14.5 billion spam emails are let loose every day; spam comprises a sizable chunk of all email; and spam will cost businesses over US $20 billion in 2011.
I love Websites that promise information about IP addresses. Feeling like an international operative, I’m able to ferret out all sorts of details from a simple binary number. There is one thing, though: I wish the location associated with the IP address was a bit more accurate... well, a lot more accurate, actually.
"Do Not Track" is controversial. Internet Evolution executive editor Nicole Ferraro learned that firsthand last August in her quest to ferret out whether allowing marketers to track our Internet travels is a good idea and, if so, for whom.
When I watched IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)’s Watson on Jeopardy a few weeks ago, it occurred to me that part of why the drubbing was possible was the computing power created by thousands of processors working in parallel. Exciting news, since advances in parallel processing will allow for more intelligent routing on the Internet.
David Vladeck, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission, discusses the state of "Do Not Track" and the problem with consumer behavior tracking online.
In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Ushering in a new era of cognitive computing systems, IBM announced today the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor, a technology breakthrough that allows brands to crunch big data in record time to transform the way they engage clients in key functions such as customer service, marketing, and sales.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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