Slashdot Mirror
US Consumers Clueless About Online Tracking
Arashtamere writes "A study on consumer perceptions about online privacy, undertaken by the Samuelson Clinic at the University of California and the Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that the average American consumer is largely unaware that every move they make online can be, and often is, tracked by online marketers and advertising networks. Those surveyed showed little knowledge on the extent to which online tracking is happening or how the information obtained can be used. More than half of those surveyed — about 55 percent — falsely assumed that a company's privacy polices prohibited it from sharing their addresses and purchases with affiliated companies. Nearly four out of 10 online shoppers falsely believed that a company's privacy policy prohibits it from using information to analyze an individuals' activities online. And a similar number assumed that an online privacy policy meant that a company they're doing business with wouldn't collect data on their online activities and combine it with other information to create a behavioral profile."
Dear online marketer,
Privacy is about more than legal compliance, it's fundamentally about user trust. Be transparent with your users about your privacy practices. If your users don't trust you, you're out of business.
Sigs cause cancer.
The Department of the Obvious?
I am not sure which is more astonishing: That so few people have bothered to read the privacy policies of the web sites they frequent, or that there are people who think the solution is legislation.
"Preceded by itself yields falsehood" preceded by itself yields falsehood.
US consumers are clueless about technology in general. If you would ask the average person if they know simple computer concepts such as partitioning and operating systems they are clueless, never mind how the Internet works. Many times, I have been malevolent tech support (face it, we all have had to fill that role) and people couldn't tell me what the operating system they were running was! They were even more clueless about the processor they were running despite a bold sticker telling you on your computer case. So how can consumers be assumed to know a thing about the internet when most can't even tell you what OS they are running.
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
Does everyone think that Walmart and every other large retailer doesn't track the purchases made with the same credit/debit card? When you use a single identifiable item for so many things, it makes your behavior very easy to predict and to take advantage of. Say hello to Big Visa.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
that a massive wave of realization crosses the minds of the average slashdot reader/ editor: the average guy on the street doesn't care. some slashdot readers are shocked, shocked i tell you, to find out that a lot of people don't treat their private life with the security protocols of a swiss bank. because they simply don't care
and honestly? i side with the average guy on the street with (non)this issue. the average guy on the street looks at the data generated from his random meanderings on the web as useless, unimportant, and not a matter of privacy. and you know what?: he's right. frankly, that some database might know what i visited on eBay, then amazon.com, then netflix is not some horrible raping of my psyche. it really isn't
someone could track the wanderings of people around the supermarket too. is that information deeply personal to you? it is? so then that means you define your deeply personal identity based on what aisle you walk down in in the supermarket? pffft
then they use that information to pitch DVD titles at you, or pasta, or a hallmark card
oh my god. some database knows i bought pepto bismol. now it wants to sell me toilet paper. MY PERSONAL IDENTITY HAS BEEN HORRIBLY RAPED. I HAVE BEEN DEHUMANIZED AND DEMEANED. MY SENSE OF SELF-WORTH IS LOWERED. IT'S ORWELL'S 1984
pfffffffffft
next nonissue please
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Dear Slashdot,
I'm in a quandry. I see policemen beating lawyers on the streets in Pakistan.
How should I be feeling?
Thanks,
A concerned citizen.
When donating them money in 2006, I specified a "special" address, which contained "from ACLU" in the "Line 1" of the address. The actual address went to "Line 2" of their form. I do this with all establishments I'm dealing with — just in case.
A month or so later invitations to subscribe to "The Nation" (a disgusting uber-Left rag) started showing up bearing the "from ACLU" address...
Now, I expected the ACLU to be bi-partisan — and concerned with my privacy. Asking me for money the next year is fair game. But sharing my info with other — completely unrelated — organizations? Very disappointing...
Somehow, nothing but parcels from Amazon has shown up bearing the "from Amazon" address.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
It isn't a surprise, becuase if people understood how much is tracked and what companies like Google know about them, there would be outrage. No one should have the level of detailed information about a consumer that Google gathers. They know who you email and IM with and about what, what sites you visit, what you buy, what your interests are, where you are and with whom, your stick market interests and investments and more. Even the Soviet era KGB would envy Google data collection and audacity.
Some (GOogle) will say that the privacy policy explains all this. Humbug! First you have to follow a link to find the policy. Second the lawyers and marketeers have obfuscated what is really being done. Further, they can change the policy without notice. When they change you have to know they have changed and then go and read the new policy. How one is supposed to know when no notice is provided is a mystery.
All in all, Google is doing a lot of evil if you believe in personal privacy. They are an invasive collector of personal data and they hide the extent and nature of what they are doing. Google makes Microsoft bashful in their business practices.
That's true. But tracking *things* has different implications than tracking *people*. When tracking something that is fairly disconnected from individuals, such as vehicle mileage, it's less intrusive than tracking people by, say, the cell phone (which is tracking a thing, but feels very much like an invasion of privacy to most). When you track somthing like purchasing habits, you are in a sense monitoring behaviour, which is getting closer to tracking the person, a la 1984. But not all tracking is evil. I've been noticing an increasing number of cases where companyies' safety or productivity concerns with drivers leads to an adoption of GPS vehicle tracking in fleet vehicles. Employees first resist, then accept it as a fact of life (hey, they are company vehicles, what are you going to do?). But then something unexpected happens--company vehicle is stolen--and then gets recovered (along with the thief), in less than an hour. In such cases, no one complains about tracking, since it has benefitted the company, the employee (he can still work), and society (one less car thief to worry about). A couple interesting newscasts on such events: http://www.gpspolice.com/videos/ Oh yeah, and you gotta love that this potential "invasion of privacy" (vehicle tracking system) enables the one employee to get his [stolen] dog back. ...Smar
You're absolutely right. Pretty much all consumers are clueless. No wonder - their chief source of information about a product is advertising.
Look at how many by sugar water labeled as "Grape Drink" or "Orange Drink", thinking that there must be real juice in it, because they won't take the time to read the label, and manufacturers aren't required to state in bold letters "THIS IS NOT REAL FRUIT JUICE". Or "Best mileage in its class!" - which really means "it sucks gas, so we made a 'class' with others that suck even more for bogus comparison purposes". Or "dermatologist - recommended". Or the P4s that were, clock tick for clock tick, slower than the P3s, but would "enhance your multimedia experience."
Maybe public education should include classes in Critical Analysis of Ad Claims 101 and Weasel Word Composition.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Privacy Policy or no privacy policy... if you have been surfing US sites in the past few years, the dept of Home Land Security tracked all (and I mean ALL) your information.
References:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-aQ_o_yi-s
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWW09xzJfS0
3) http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm
4) http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2006/06/the_newbies_gui.html?entry_id=1510938
No trees were killed in the making of this post; however, many trillions of electrons were horribly inconvenienced.