Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

The Internet Is Watching You

Biggest companies gather data on the average user hundreds of times a month

By Laila Weir,  Newser User

Posted Mar 10, 2008 12:30 PM CDT
Email

(Newser) – Long gone are the days of Internet anonymity. Big Web companies know all about you, says a study commissioned by the New York Times. The Internet giants track users’ behavior across sites, gathering details on a typical person several hundred times a month. That information lets them target content and—most lucratively—advertising, leaving traditional media companies in the dust.

Every month, Yahoo has 811 opportunities to collect information on its average visitor, plus about 1,700 chances on partner sites. MySpace and AOL ranked close behind Yahoo in their potential data collection. In response to privacy concerns, the big companies say they often refrain from linking data directly to visitors’ user names or even computer addresses.

Yahoo can collect data on its average user 811 times a month from its own sites alone.
Yahoo can collect data on its average user 811 times a month from its own sites alone.   (Associated Press)
An experimental software feature called Salsa is demonstrated Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at Microsoft's TechFest in Redmond, Wash., that integrates public social networking data such as Facebook.com entries, Twitter.com activity updates, and other information into the email windows of Outlook.
An experimental software feature called "Salsa" is demonstrated Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at Microsoft's TechFest in Redmond, Wash., that integrates public social networking data such as Facebook.com entries,...   (Associated Press)
MySpace is among the big Web companies that have hundreds of opportunities to collect data on users every month.
MySpace is among the big Web companies that have hundreds of opportunities to collect data on users every month.   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

Web surfers are conflicted on Internet privacy issues
Inside Bay Area (Oakland)

 
Yahoo • Internet • AOL • MySpace • online media • New York Times • online privacy • consumer protection • targeted advertising • Internet advertising

More Newser Stories

Cops Screen Recruits' Texts, Facebook Posts

White House Plans Internet Privacy Watchdog

Yahoo Gets Deeper In Bed With Facebook

Facebook Refuseniks Still Sorta Use It

Print Times Not Quite Dead, But Hope Lies in Its Ashes
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne