The violation of privacy has been one of the hottest topics up for debate on the internet for a while now. With the influence of tech giants like Google and Facebook seeping into our daily lives to the extent where these companies know us better than we know ourselves, leaving an online 'footprint' too large is a concern for a lot of people. I have made posts in the past relating to this concern, such as methods to remain completely anonymous online and a website that can display your torrenting history.
This post is for those of us who get creeped out when a totally random website displays advertisements of products you where browsing on Amazon a day ago, which, let's be honest, is most of us. This is because of internet 'tracking' done on you by websites such as online shopping hubs, Facebook, Google and so on.
Tech entities recording your actions and using them to change the behavior of their service to you is called tracking. Using accounts that you are permanently logged in to (such as your Google account on android phones and Apple account on iPhones), storing 'cookies' on your browser that record your preferences are some of the ways in which this is done. So let's say you decide to check a smartphone on Amazon. Amazon realizes that you are interested in this product as you have checked it, and records this information, then gives it over to advertisement serving companies, such as Google's AdSense. Next time you search something related to smartphones on Google, the ads that show up will be of the phone that you searched on Amazon, because AdSense now knows you are interested in that device.
Similarly Google or Facebook will record your interaction with posts and links to find out what kind of content you are interested in, and will provide ads related to such content when you use their services. This is how internet tracking works.
Tracking, to an extent, is extremely useful. It allows Google Search to give you relevant results, it allows Maps to show you the traffic on the way to work every morning, it allows Facebook to remove posts that you have no interest in from your newsfeed, it allows everything from Play Store or App Store to Ebay and Amazon to show you items that you are more likely to be interested in. In other words, it personalizes your internet experience.
So what are people terrified of? Well, if you think about it, such entities knows where you live and where you work, what kind of clothing you like and your favorite food, what kind of books you read and which songs you listen to, who are your friends and the type of people you would associate with, where you sense of humor sits, what you find offensive and what you don't, what you would like to do in your leisure, things that you would like to buy, your lifestyle, and even the times when you go to sleep and wake up in the morning. And all of this is being sold or can be sold to advertising companies and other agencies.
In the end tracking is not as horrible as many people have made it out to be. Most reputable companies like Google and Facebook have privacy policies that they adhere to (Although they do change occasionally and no one ever bothers to read through them), and give users multiple notifications when they change something in their policy that could potentially divulge their privacy. They don't sell too much information to advertisers and have streamlined options to control and manage and even partially delete tracked information.
So in the end, how much you want to eliminate tracking depends on where you draw the line between 'useful' and 'creepy'. I personally don't like being tracked, but I realize its uses and allows it to an extent, blocking it only when required.
That's it for now, hope you found it useful. Stay tuned for a post on methods to reduce/elimiate tracking in a few days!
This post is for those of us who get creeped out when a totally random website displays advertisements of products you where browsing on Amazon a day ago, which, let's be honest, is most of us. This is because of internet 'tracking' done on you by websites such as online shopping hubs, Facebook, Google and so on.
What is tracking?
Tech entities recording your actions and using them to change the behavior of their service to you is called tracking. Using accounts that you are permanently logged in to (such as your Google account on android phones and Apple account on iPhones), storing 'cookies' on your browser that record your preferences are some of the ways in which this is done. So let's say you decide to check a smartphone on Amazon. Amazon realizes that you are interested in this product as you have checked it, and records this information, then gives it over to advertisement serving companies, such as Google's AdSense. Next time you search something related to smartphones on Google, the ads that show up will be of the phone that you searched on Amazon, because AdSense now knows you are interested in that device.
Similarly Google or Facebook will record your interaction with posts and links to find out what kind of content you are interested in, and will provide ads related to such content when you use their services. This is how internet tracking works.
How is tracking good/bad?
Tracking, to an extent, is extremely useful. It allows Google Search to give you relevant results, it allows Maps to show you the traffic on the way to work every morning, it allows Facebook to remove posts that you have no interest in from your newsfeed, it allows everything from Play Store or App Store to Ebay and Amazon to show you items that you are more likely to be interested in. In other words, it personalizes your internet experience.
So what are people terrified of? Well, if you think about it, such entities knows where you live and where you work, what kind of clothing you like and your favorite food, what kind of books you read and which songs you listen to, who are your friends and the type of people you would associate with, where you sense of humor sits, what you find offensive and what you don't, what you would like to do in your leisure, things that you would like to buy, your lifestyle, and even the times when you go to sleep and wake up in the morning. And all of this is being sold or can be sold to advertising companies and other agencies.
Conclusion
In the end tracking is not as horrible as many people have made it out to be. Most reputable companies like Google and Facebook have privacy policies that they adhere to (Although they do change occasionally and no one ever bothers to read through them), and give users multiple notifications when they change something in their policy that could potentially divulge their privacy. They don't sell too much information to advertisers and have streamlined options to control and manage and even partially delete tracked information.
So in the end, how much you want to eliminate tracking depends on where you draw the line between 'useful' and 'creepy'. I personally don't like being tracked, but I realize its uses and allows it to an extent, blocking it only when required.
That's it for now, hope you found it useful. Stay tuned for a post on methods to reduce/elimiate tracking in a few days!
ReplyDeleteVery helpful information!Thank you so much for the detailed article.
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