Web Companies Tracking Users Patterns Without Consent
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Is it any surprise that Google has confirmed that they are indeed using DoubleClick tracking cookies to keep track of people’s web surfing habits and putting that information to use in refining their advertising?
This is more than just doing a search for weight loss information and being shown an advertisement for exercise equipment, this is online businesses doing a lot of in depth tracking of users, not just from tracking cookies, but also with another, more insidious technology.
NebuAd is one example, they’ve been testing the use of “Deep Packet Inspection” technology with a couple of ISPs… Knology and Cable One. Apparently the tests are now over but I understand that the users were not informed that this was going on.
Deep Packet Inspection is done by adding a device to the ISP’s system that is able to inspect every TCP packet going through it. This allows them to know a LOT about what websites you visit and what the content of those sites is. For now they’re thinking about using it to make advertising more profitable but there’s a BIIIIG privacy issue here too.
Technorati Tags: nebuad, targeted advertising, deep packet inspection, cookies, advertising, google, privacy
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