mysecPremium
join:2005-11-29
kudos:4 | reply to dave
Re: Association of Parasites upset about 'do-not-track' default High Stakes in Internet Tracking
»www.technologyreview.com/news/42···racking/
An Amazon ad for a book by science fiction writer Cory Doctorow recently appeared on my computer screen. "What a coincidence!" I thought naively. I'd been reading an opinion item by Doctorow on Internet privacy (to be published this week as part of this month's Business Impact series) and had looked up his past writing. That was all it took for a crowd of ads to start following me.
On the network, it's an IP address or the browser cookies that tell other computers who you are.
I'm a bit confused.
I store a permanent cookie on Amazon because I like the suggestions for books/music based on my purchasing, that appear on my page when I log in.
But I've never seen any subsequent advertisements based on that information, appear (or follow me) anywhere else I'm browsing.
So, I'm a bit confused. Since my IP address is dynamic, and I don't accept 3rd-party (tracking) cookies, how can a profile for my computer be built and used for tracking?
Evidently one can't be built, since I haven't experienced what the writer describes (advertisements following me around the web).
Please enlighten me!
thanks,
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rich |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:8 | said by mysec:how can a profile for my computer be built and used for tracking? I've no idea how the big boys do it, but if I wanted to, here's what I'd try:
1. Take a bunch of whatever relatively fixed data points I can find out about your machine from a web page. (Any ids I can find, disk size, blah blah).
2. Boil 'em down to a signature.
3. Store the signature on a central server somewhere.
4. Now anyone else that uses dave's fingerprint service can identify you. |
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mysecPremium
join:2005-11-29
kudos:4 | That would be quite an impressive feat!
However, all the articles I've read stress the cookie. Here's an interesting one: the "policital cookie":
Campaigns to Track Voters with "Political Cookies"
»www.technologyreview.com/news/42···cookies/
Using so-called browser cookies, advertisers can track a given Web surfers' habits and serve them relevant ads.
This election year, a related type of targeted ads-one relying on "political cookies"-is coming into widespread use.
With the help of advertising exchanges and media partners, a political campaign can use cookies to serve specific ads
Most major campaigns this year will use cookie-based political advertising, says John Phillips, CEO of Aristotle International, which sells voter records combined with information like people's hobbies and income brackets.
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rich |
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 Name GamePremium
join:2002-07-07
North Myrtle Beach, SC
kudos:7 | reply to mysec
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mysecPremium
join:2005-11-29
kudos:4 | said by Name Game:Do you consider that permanent cookie to be a...
I've always thought that a Permanent or Persistent cookie was one that I authorized to be stored. I have six.
EDIT: I'm not going to refer to my browser settings, since I've been taken to task for referencing an antiquated version of the browser I use.
The "alternative," next generation persistent cookies mentioned in the article, such Flash, present a real problem in being able to control whether or not you want them stored.
That "problem" is taken care of on my system since I use Deep Freeze, whereby anything written to a frozen partition is wiped on reboot, so nothing of that nature is stored.
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rich |
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Name GamePremium
join:2002-07-07
North Myrtle Beach, SC
kudos:7 | I handle them similar to what you do then..and I never worried about any of them..antiquated is good when you publish the code date..and where they were manufactured.  |
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mysecPremium
join:2005-11-29
kudos:4 | said by Name Game:..antiquated is good when you publish the code date..and where they were manufactured.
Sorry, I don't know what you are referring to...
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rich |
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Name GamePremium
join:2002-07-07
North Myrtle Beach, SC
kudos:7 | Right ..well this is the pdf of the study..your persistent type cookie is discussed ..along with security risks in section 3. Privacy Concerns section 4.
»www.enisa.europa.eu/activities/i···cookies/ |
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Name GamePremium
join:2002-07-07
North Myrtle Beach, SC
kudos:7 | reply to mysec
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mysecPremium
join:2005-11-29
kudos:4 | reply to Name Game
said by Name Game:http://www.enisa.europa.eu/activities/identity-and-trust/library/pp/cookies/
Great article for explaining these things.
This stood out to me:
Web tracking is mainly performed by monitoring IP addresses, and using techniques such as cookies, or the more powerful supercookies
Some sites, such as those belonging to advertising companies, use third-party cookies to track a user across multiple sites. In particular, an advertising company can track a user across all pages where it has placed advertising images or web bugs. Knowledge of the pages visited by a user allows the advertising company to target advertising at the user’s presumed preferences.
Another study shows that not only are these third-parties increasing their tracking of users, but that they can now link these traces with identities and personal information via online social networks [19]. In [20], a behavioural targeting study was performed on an e-commerce site for a clothing line. The results for the analysed case showed that the web site contained a total of nine tracking tags that linked to eight third-party companies.
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rich |
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