Amazon Search Bar Will Track Your Browsing

Limit writes "There has been a lot of discussion regarding GMail and Google's privacy policies. However, with the recent debut of Amazon's A9.com, I havn't seen any mention to the information they intend to collect. I saw this article today, "The history server stores -- on our servers -- your history of interaction with us for the purpose of bringing that back to you in a very convenient way ... If you install the toolbar, then all your Web browsing, as well as all your searching, is stored as well." Where is all the media hype about this privacy issue?"

Comments

Well...

[daishin]

If they see me browsing freshmeat.net, and sourceforge all the time will they send me free stuff?

A9

[swordboy]

Is anyone reminded of asinine when reading A9? I think that we should officially coin the term and use it until asinine changes their name.

Internet Explorer Tracks you too!

[PetoskeyGuy]

I was so upset about reading that Amazon was tracking my searches that I checked all my other programs for similar privacy violations. What I found may shock and appall some of you.

It must have been that last service pack I downloaded or that damn Auto Update, but you'll never believe it. INTERNET EXPLORER TRACKS YOUR BROWSING! Not only does it track every link you click on it also saves every image or web page you view. I found a hidden cache of html, images, flash files, audio files... everything I've looked at for weeks was there!

There was even a whole folder full of thousands of cookies! Websites sometimes use them I'm told, but that damn microsoft has been stealing them from websites I browse and backing them up in a secret folder on my hard drive. I deleted them and now all my web site preferences are gone and some of the sites I use don't log me in automatically anymore. Microsoft must have detected that I deleted them and they are demonstrating their power over me.

Well that's it I've had it I'm not going to take it any more! I'm switching to Mozilla today. Take that Microsoft.

P.S. Wal-Mart is switching everything to RFID tags, but that's where I get my tinfoil from. Does anyone have a good source of 1990s era tin foil? I've been using my baked potato tin foil to kill the RFID tags, but it doesn't always stick right and the wife refuses to wear her tinfoil hat at all now. I'm not sure if she can be trusted any longer...

Re:I don't trust any so-called "browser helpers".

[GoofyBoy]

I'm way ahead of you.

I am currently using telnet to read and send TCP/IP packets to and from the slashdot.org servers. Sure, jpg/gif/bmp mime types were a pain to mentally picture at first, but you get used to it.

What is this "browser" you are speaking of?

Ha!

[No Such Agency]

I'm using a kazoo to make "modem noises" on my telephone line, and have trained myself to read Slashdot from the analog data that comes back.

Re:Ha!

[Patik]

You have BLACK pigeons too? I just time the gaps between the white ones and make assumptions.

Originally I had only white pidgeons and I used your method. Then one day I got greedy and tried to establish a parellel connection. I sent half the pidgeons towards into the Northeast Wind Current and the other half into the Southeast Low-Pressure Stream -- while I was doubling the distance they would have to fly versus the old direct ("as the pidgeon flies") route, nature's airflow help push the pidgeons along twice as fast.

Much to my dismay, the Southeastern pidgeons happened to fly directly over an erupting volcano and were covered with dark soot, making them black. The black and white pidgeons returned in a pattern I was not expecting (since I had sent only white ones), and I interpretted this as some sort of "l337" nonsense. With the new dual colorings, I was able to begin the BPNP (binary pidgeon network protocol).

Now that I think about it, I think I will just leave the black pidgeons here and only send the white ones back -- I only need half of the information from Slashdot because I can just assume the other half is dupes.