The Cookies You Can’t Crumble
Google, Facebook, and a bunch of startups are finding new ways to collect data for advertisers
Google, Facebook, and a bunch of startups are finding new ways to collect data for advertisers
NAI members are committed to transparency and choice. The NAI opt-out tool was developed in conjunction with our members for the express purpose of allowing consumers to “opt out” of the Interest-Based Advertising delivered by our members.
A new kind of tracking tool, canvas fingerprinting, is being used to follow visitors to thousands of top websites, from WhiteHouse.gov to YouPorn.
Advertisers love Tapad because it can track and target you across your desktop, tablet and smartphone. Privacy advocates and Congress? Not so much.
Cookies are the basis for billions of dollars of online advertising. They’re also under fire from privacy advocates, the government, and even makers of Web browsers. But the key problem is the fragmentation of how people access online content (from phone to computer to tablet and back again).
And so the worries about how advertisers will be able to reach fragmented, increasingly privacy-aware audiences continue to consume the online ad business. Problem is, they haven’t yet come up with solutions–and the clock is ticking.
Many Internet advertisers rely on cookies. The problem for marketers is that some users set their browsers to reject cookies or quickly extinguish them. And mobile phones, which are taking an increasing chunk of the Web usage, do not use cookies.
Advertisers and publishers are increasingly turning to something called fingerprinting. It allows a web site to look at the characteristics of a computer such as what plugins and software you have installed, the size of the screen, the time zone, fonts and other features of any particular machine. These form a unique signature just like random skin patterns on a finger.
Using your browser’s private browsing feature doesn’t provide as much privacy as you think. So, what really is your digital footprint?
Over the last year, we’ve learned more and more about the National Security Agency’s spying programs. Indeed, there have now been so many revelations that it can be hard to keep them straight.
So here’s a handy guide to the most significant ways the NSA spies on people in the United States and around the world.
The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using “cookies” and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.
Every day, companies are gathering and sharing information about you, even when you aren’t logged in.
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