Last year Internet activist Eli Pariser spoke at TED about how popular search engines like Google uses data it collects on what we click and when we click it. What if you were curious about how bombs are made or about how terrorists operate? Could the information that you search for today cause Big Brother to kick you in the head tomorrow?
Maine State Rep, Diane Russel recently wrote at The Huffington Post that with the advent of social media we are watching our privacy rights disappear at a faster clip.
The monitoring, tracking and even surveillance is so ubiquitous that most people don’t even realize it is happening. If they do, there are few solutions being presented, and it truly begs the question, “What can I do about it?” –Maine State Rep, Diane Russell
Do you ever wonder how much information you may unknowingly give away on the web? With the Mozillacollusion browser plugin you can view a digital map of where you have browsed and who is tracking you. If you are as shocked by the results as I was – Time Magazine has eight great ideas for protecting your privacy online.
Every move you make on the Internet is being monetized by the advertising ecosystem.
Right now, a huge chunk of what you’ve ever looked at on the Internet is sitting in databases all across the world.
“Already, the web sites you visit reshape themselves before you like a carnivorous school of fish, and this is only the beginning. Right now, a huge chunk of what you’ve ever looked at on the Internet is sitting in databases all across the world. The line separating all that it might say about you, good or bad, is as thin as the letters of your name. If and when that wall breaks down, the numbers may overwhelm the name.” –The Atlantic
Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic, recently begged the question “Who’s following your every move on the web, and what do they want from you?” Madrigal recorded a 36-hour period of standard web surfing with Mozilla’s tool Collusion (a tool that collects data about the companies that are collecting data about you), and recorded 105 companies that were collecting information on his web travels.
AS USERS, WE move through our Internet experiences unaware of the churning subterranean machines powering our Web pages with their cookies and pixel trackers, their tracking code and databases.
“AS USERS, WE move through our Internet experiences unaware of the churning subterranean machines powering our Web pages with their cookies and pixel trackers, their tracking code and databases. We shop for wedding caterers and suddenly see ring ads appear on random Web pages we’re visiting. We sometimes think the ads following us around the Internet are “creepy.” We sometimes feel watched. Does it matter? We don’t really know what to think. --The Week
Advertising $$$’s
There are tools available, such as Cocoon, that give Internet consumers control of their private information and places a roadblock against online tracking.
The purpose for all of this online snooping is singular: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook and others are intent on delivering more relevant online ads to each and every one of us — and bagging that advertising money. —BYRON ACOHIDO | USA Today
Internet users should be informed that there are tools available, such as Cocoon, that give Internet consumers control of their private information and places a roadblock against online tracking.
