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      Marketers Trace Paths Users Leave on Internet

      Posted by Billbar from New York Times

      Earlier this year, Yahoo introduced a computer system that uses complex models to analyze records of what each of its 500 million users do on its site: what they search for, what pages they read, what ads they click on. It then tries to show them advertisements that speak directly to their interests and the events in their lives. Yahoo and the many other companies building similar systems say the systems are benign because they typically do not collect personal information like names and addresses. Still, just how personal even “anonymous” information can be was shown vividly last week as a list of three months of search queries from 657,000 AOL customers began circulating online. Collectively, a person’s Web searches, it turns out, can create an eerily intimate portrait — one that some privacy advocates say should never be assembled and stored in the first place.

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  1. thumbnail

    Jeff comments on:

    Feds catch radioactive cat on Interstate 5

    Personally, I’m glad to hear the U.S. is deploying (and has the capability) these devices. I’m skeptical of the casual anecdote that this agent shared at a community meeting.

    I would like the government to be more forthcoming about their domestic spying – at the very least with Congress – so we can have the appropriate Constitutional checks and balances.

    Reply »

    2:19 pm 3/24/08
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    theangryindian comments on:

    Politics | FBI aims to amass huge database of people\\\\\\\'s physical characteristics | Seattle Tim

    I hope you are joking.

    Reply »

    4:15 pm 12/25/07
  3. thumbnail

    rwtaylor comments on:

    Politics | FBI aims to amass huge database of people\\\\\\\'s physical characteristics | Seattle Tim

    great !!!

    Reply »

    2:29 pm 12/24/07
  4. thumbnail

    Jon comments on:

    Amazon database would put shoppers' intimate details on the line

    This kind of intrusive corporate snooping is above and beyond the pale. I really wish we had a law that would allow me to get companies to *remove* data about me from their files.

    Reply »

    10:00 am 8/12/06
  5. thumbnail

    Billbar comments on:

    OS X 10.4.7 Phones Home To Cupertino

    Seems innocuous like what iTunes did, but does feel Microsoftian. Probably can be circumvented easily, like in iTunes. But Apple is a large multinational corporation and thus is evil by definition, so a little paranoia is healthy.

    Reply »

    5:37 am 7/06/06
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    Jeff

    Member since Dec 2008

    Jeff is the founder of NewsCloud. He is also a freelance writer and blogs at Idealog.

    Seattle


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    Kaerast

    Member since Dec 2008

    a geek, a crazy cyclist, and somebody who just wants to see the world become a happier place.

    No city


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    okami

    Member since Dec 2008

    former US Marine, retired police. . .nothing of interest. . .

    Commerce