IT/IS Security - Spyware, web tracking and privacy

This page has some fairly unconnected thoughts on web privacy and tracking of personal data. I will pull it into shape as time permits.

Your Identity and the Web

An interesting article from ZDnet on the issue.

Some quotes from the article:

"Tacoda's technology is designed to give Web publishers more insight into their visitors so that they can better target their ads. At its full potential, Tacoda's Audience Management System can create profiles that include a person's age, gender, location, billing address, email address, Web surfing habits and subscription information to offline publications. To do this, it draws from data-mining technology, tracking software such as cookies and Web site registration information."

"Profiling, an early online advertising technique that went out of fashion due to privacy concerns and poor execution, is on the rebound, thanks in part to new players and to technology that aims to address previous shortcomings. Among other things, it limits an Internet company's visibility to a single Web site and any affiliated sites, mitigating privacy concerns about previous Web tracking methods."

"Right now, at least one Tacoda news publishing customer is testing a merger of online and offline customer information in order to better accommodate advertisers across print and Web properties, according to the company, although Tacoda declined to say which one."

Some of the companies involved: Condé Nast , Advance Publications, Tacoda Systems, Real Media, Weather.com, USAToday.com, Tribune Interactive , Scripps Networks, DoubleClick

Notwithstanding the "assurances" being given by the companies involved, even this one article shows the importance of understanding the methods and organisations who are tracking you activities both on and off the web. It does not take much to set up some simple methods to add some protection from this:

• Use a cookie filter program to filter out cookies from tracking companies (try CookieCop+)
• Use a image filter to get rid of intrusive adverts e.g. those that do infinite loops that prevent you concentrating on the page (CookieCop+ can also do this as can many other tools)
• Use a site filter to prevent your browser accessing sites that track your movements e.g. DoubleClick (once again CookieCop+ and others)