COOKIES! Now that I have your attention — here’s everything you should know about Internet Tracking and Data Collection.
Data collection is a long-time privacy invasion that comes along with our internet usage. At this point, it’s pretty common knowledge that your data is being collected when we use our phones, computers and other technologies, but what exact information is being gathered?
While your targeted ad algorithm can probably pick out gifts for you better than your own mother, what is the cost of this convenience?
Data Collection, more casually known as tagging, is a process which typically uses JavaScript to gather information about your online footprint. Gathering data about the webpage you’re on, the user (you), and the designated cookies on-site… it then wraps up your info into a nice little parcel and sends it off to a third-party site for analysis.
The process of wrapping up this neat package of your data and passing it onto a third party website for processing and analysis is known as ‘sending a web beacon’ or ‘firing a tag.’ While this ‘web beacon’ may not be signalling anything helpful to us, to companies it is important because it allows them to gather information about their users that is backed up with data; granting them a greater perspective of who their audience is and what they want.
The analytics collected are then shared with third-party websites which process the data and then return it to the company for analysis. The extent of the data collected can vary depending on the site, as well as the cookies which you grant the site permission to access.
In a digital age, many companies that have turned online no longer have the ability to gain customer knowledge through an in-person storefront setting. This newfound technique of learning about an audience has accompanied the rise in digital marketplaces and services; and is proving to be more informative and accurate about a company’s audience.
Accurate data analysis results are valuable to many aspects of a company because they provide a greater insight to the client base so that the company can reach their targeted audience easier.
The exact data which a company collects varies from site to site. Here’s a quick example to demonstrate. Say you’re online shopping. Landing on the homepage of a site, you’re usually posed with a banner about cookies, many fellow annoyed shoppers would subconsciously oblige to the request to remove the box from the screen. Next you might click on a picture you like, or the specific section and from there it begins. Taking note of what you click on, add to your cart, the time you spend on different items and pages, and in some cases more personal info like your location, gender or age; a website gathers these little details together to make smarter assumptions about their customers.
Overtime, the data about you is collected and compiled from different websites to create a scary-accurate compilation of your likes and dislikes. Hence, that lucky feeling of finding EXACTLY what you were looking for via an online ad.
Creepy and invasive, yet also very convenient, targeted ads and content are becoming more and more popular.
Google is the master of this guessing game. With access to everything that you search and then some, the hierarchy of websites presented to you is no accident. Through strategically placing suggested items, news articles, and websites on your search engine, Google holds a buying power over its customers and clients.
This can start to cause problems when ads become a little toooo specific. The 2016 US Presidential Election Ads uploaded to Facebook via different parties not only contained false/exaggerated information, but also were targeted to appear on the pages of people in specific demographics and locations. This attempt to sway election results through spreading misinformation to vulnerable voters, specifically in lower income zip codes or strongly leaning zip codes, ended up going to court.
Amidst the backlash that Facebook received from this scandal, little has been done to change to targeted political ads that are still being uploaded. While a more advanced fact checking system is now in place, people uploading advertisements still have the capability to designate their ads to appear for certain demographics and areas.
Notorious by its users for the scarily accurate ‘For You Page,’ TikTok is a social media platform consisting of sharing and watching casual videos. As it rises to popularity for its addictive nature, many brands are jumping on-board and creating company accounts, taking advantage of the free marketing provided by its highly accurate algorithm that matches people with relatable and personally-interesting videos.
TikTok’s algorithm is scary accurate, but the information they record may be even scarier.
Once you have logged in and created an account, they have knowledge of the device you’re using, your location, your camera/photos, IP address, search history, messages, what you watch, how long you watch, and most freakily — your faceprint and voice. Next time you’re thinking about taking a social media cleanse, take your privacy into account as well! While TikTok’s algorithm gives away how well they know you, many companies contracting the same information move a bit more under the radar. The possibility of your information falling into the wrong hands could threaten your passwords, as well as personal and financial information.
So, you might be asking yourself, ‘What can I do to protect my data?’
There are a number of small actions you can take to protect yourself online: turn off your computer or WiFi when you’re not using it, backup your data to the cloud, avoid consistent passwords, only agree to necessary cookies, consistently update your devices, purchase a firewall or anti-malware system and please, don’t download free movies off that one website, even if ~everyone~ does it.
Next time you’re online and about to click that bright “Allow All Cookies” button (don’t even get me started on the colour theory of that), think twice! The internet is full of little twists and turns that may leave you feeling like your privacy is being violated; but so long as you stay one step ahead of its game, you can purposely say “I really want a pair of black block heel boots on sale” to your phone a few times and cross your fingers that your data collection is working in your favour!!
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