The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets

[thathagat]

ummm..........so watch out
The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets

Hidden inside Ashley Hayes-Beaty's computer, a tiny file helps gather personal details about her, all to be put up for sale for a tenth of a penny.

The file consists of a single code— 4c812db292272995e5416a323e79bd37—that secretly identifies her as a 26-year-old female in Nashville, Tenn.
The code knows that her favorite movies include "The Princess Bride," "50 First Dates" and "10 Things I Hate About You." It knows she enjoys the "Sex and the City" series. It knows she browses entertainment news and likes to take quizzes.

"Well, I like to think I have some mystery left to me, but apparently not!" Ms. Hayes-Beaty said when told what that snippet of code reveals about her. "The profile is eerily correct."

Ms. Hayes-Beaty is being monitored by Lotame Solutions Inc., a New York company that uses sophisticated software called a "beacon" to capture what people are typing on a website—their comments on movies, say, or their interest in parenting and pregnancy. Lotame packages that data into profiles about individuals, without determining a person's name, and sells the profiles to companies seeking customers. Ms. Hayes-Beaty's tastes can be sold wholesale (a batch of movie lovers is $1 per thousand) or customized (26-year-old Southern fans of "50 First Dates").

"We can segment it all the way down to one person," says Eric Porres, Lotame's chief marketing officer.

One of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found, is the business of spying on Internet users.

 

[macgyver2]

this is truly disturbing that its allowed. I looked at what was tracked on my laptop and granted having 2 users really mixes up the results I don't like the fact that someone is watching over my shoulder at everything I do on my computer. I accessed one cookie to find how many times I typed the word sex on and offline.

in the USA I can't see how this is legal at all. I also know there are more then a few sites I will never visit again.

 

[Lordbob75]

Good bye Dictionary.com. I will have to blacklist the domain.

I also set my cookies to ASK EVERYTIME and to PURGE them EVERYTIME I close my browser.

I WILL NOT put up with this shit.

~Lordbob