Electronic passage through the Internet leaves a trail that can be traced. Tracing is a process that follows the Internet activity backwards, from the recipient to the user. As well, a user's Internet activity on web sites can also be tracked on the recipient site i.e., what sites are visited and how often. Sometimes this tracking and tracing ability is used to generate email to the user promoting a product that is related to the sites visited. User information, however, can also be gathered covertly. This leaves us wondering if tracking devices violates the user's privacy.
There are different types of tracking devices; most common one is called cookies. Cookies are computer files that are stored on a user's computer during a visit to a web site. When the user electronically enters the web site, the host computer automatically loads the file(s) to the user's computer.
The cookie is a tracking device, which records the electronic movements made by the user at the site, as well as identifiers such as a username and password. Commercial web sites make use of cookies to allow a user to establish an account on the first visit to the site and so to avoid having to enter account information i.e., address, credit card number, financial activity on subsequent visits. User information can also be collected unbeknown to the user and subsequently used for whatever purpose the host intends.
Cookies are files, and so can be transferred from the host computer to another computer. This can occur legally i.e., selling of a subscriber mailing list or illegally i.e., "hacking in" to a host computer and copying the file. Also, cookies can be acquired as part of a law enforcement investigation.
A program called Adware could potentially be another source of tracking device. Adware is software integrated into or bundled with a program. It is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used.
There are concerns about adware because it often takes the form of spyware,another internet tracking device. Spyware is like a cookie, in which information about the user's activity is tracked, reported, and often re-sold, often without the knowledge or consent of the user. Of even greater concern is malware, which may interfere with the function of other software applications, in order to force users to visit a particular web site.
Did you know that almost everything you do on the internet is being tracked and recorded in some way? In the Article, George Orwell… Meet Mark Zuckerberg, by Lori Andrews, Andrews talks about how behavioral advertising, which is the tracking of consumer’s online activities in order to bring custom-made advertisements, is a topic that is concealed to many people and can cause damage. Search engines like Google store the searches you have made and in 2006 there were search logs released which had personal information that people were judged by (Andrews 716-717). Data aggregation is the main way Facebook makes its money. Andrews believes that it’s an invasion of privacy and is not known well enough by the public. This article is aimed at young and new internet users that are ignorant of the possible dangers on the web. Lori Andrews is successful at informing novice users about the dangers of behavioral
..., websites and online marketers do find ways around users’ precautions to gain personal information. There are many people out there who want to use personal information like credit card numbers or addresses to cause harm to others. These cases are the extremely negative ones that people want to and should avoid. The case of companies and third parties tracking browsing history and other information for advertising purposes hover over a finer line between good and bad. For some people, tracking can be considered convenient in terms of shopping for what they are interested in, and others may be uncomfortable with the thought of being tracked without knowing. As stated in the beginning, complete privacy is unlikely, but being informed about the tactics of the Internet can help one protect themselves and others in their care to be as careful and private as possible.
Advertisement agencies use behavioral advertisement, or third party cookies, to track customers on and off their client’s website. This allows them to create specific banner ads that display content viewed and not purchased, in hopes of getting a larger customer return and purchase rate. This practice is increasing among e-commerce and is raising concerns with ethical and privacy advocators.
Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses Amazon.com. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see examples of the information we receive. A number of companies offer utilities designed to help you visit Web sites anonymously. Although we will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience at Amazon.com if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these tools exist.
The personal connection Americans have with their phones, tablets, and computers; and the rising popularity of online shopping and social websites due to the massive influence the social media has on Americans, it is clear why this generation is called the Information Age, also known as Digital Age. With the Internet being a huge part of our lives, more and more personal data is being made available, because of our ever-increasing dependence and use of the Internet on our phones, tablets, and computers. Some corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook; governments, and other third parties have been tracking our internet use and acquiring data in order to provide personalized services and advertisements for consumers. Many American such as Nicholas Carr who wrote the article “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers,” Anil Dagar who wrote the article “Internet, Economy and Privacy,” and Grace Nasri who wrote the article “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing to Trade Data for Personalization,” believe that the continuing loss of personal privacy may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy and see privacy as outdated and unimportant. Privacy is dead and corporations, governments, and third parties murdered it for their personal gain not for the interest of the public as they claim. There are more disadvantages than advantages on letting corporations, governments, and third parties track and acquire data to personalized services and advertisements for us.
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,
6. Daniel Lin, Michael C. Loui, "Taking the Byte Out of Cookies: Privacy, Consent, and the Web" Computers and Society, June 1998.
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users. As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast. E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior. The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens. Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage. In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites. However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.
Once inside a system, spyware can gather e-mail addresses, passwords, and credit card numbers. This gathered information is then transmitted across the internet to the author of the spyware, who then uses the newly gained information to determine which ads should target...
In a world where people have become dependent on technology, we can access any type of information as well as provide information to the Internet. This causes a great amount of knowledge for anyone to use to their content, whether it be for malicious or benign purposes. However, whether the reasons are behind this, there is always a trace of something left behind in an electronic devices history. By tapping into a person’s history, one can found out exactly what a person does when they are online. In Singer’s essay, he stated that it is possible to create a ‘Panopticon’ where the government has a visual observation on its citi...
The first browser that could handle cookies was Netscape Navigator 1.0. Cookies have become commonplace on the web since that browser first came out in 1995. By one account, 26 of the top 100 web sites utilize these files. Sites that use cookies include AltaVista, all pages on the GeoCities domain, and the web version of the New York Times. The New York Times is a lot like Yahoo mail in that the acceptance of cookies is required. Most sites, however, do not require browsers to accept cookies.
“For DNT to work though, the sites that were visited must agree to uphold the preference to not be tracked. Although, some large companies and corporations have agreed to honor the DNT, many have refused to because it threatens advertising dollars” (Fact Sheet 18). What is even more interesting are “cookies ”. This is when the internet/computer remembers an individual’s purchases, preferences and/or personal sections such as your address and has an automatic fill button that saves into your hardware drive. With cookies there are a variety of them such as first-party cookies vs third-party cookies. With first-party cookies they use this information to make offers to repeating users online. Third-party cookies can share your information with clearinghouses an in hopes to show advisements to users anticipating they will utilities them based off of their preferences. When you blocks third-party cookies it can increase your awareness of your privacy and security online. This helps block consumer and ad pop ups around the Web. Sometimes you can even have poor Internet privacy that is linked with cookies that the user is unaware of. There are websites on the World Wide Web that have the worst Internet privacy such as Facebook Apps. A pure example is back in 2010,
In this new era of the Internet, most people use the Internet to acquire information of one kind or other. But what these people are not aware of is that the Internet is collecting information about them. Every time we get onto the Internet there might be a compromise of privacy of our personal information. The information flows both ways. With every clock of the mouse on a hyperlink, or an addition to the mailing list, someone out there might be gathering information about us. This raises the seriousness of privacy of our information on the Internet.
Cookies are used to enable us to present appropriate messages to our customers. For example, to:
A major reason the U.S. needs to increase restrictions on the type and amount of data collected on individuals from the internet is due to the fact that the United States government can track communications and browsing histories of private citizens without warrant or cause. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, ...