Web tracking

16 Stories

Verizon Phones Raise New Privacy Fears

Company 'supercookies' can't be deleted

(Newser) - Verizon phones can apparently track you, even if you try to stop them. This month a Stanford University lawyer confirmed on his blog what cybersecurity experts have warned for a while : You can delete cookies on Verizon phones, but the company's so-called "supercookies" remain, allowing advertisers to target...

What Cookies? Google, Microsoft Plot New Ways to Track You

Systems could mean big gains for tech firms

(Newser) - The Internet's biggest players are taking a bite out of cookies. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are all working on ways to track users on their own, without the help of the small data chunks that reveal online activity, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company that wins what one...

FTC Tightening Web Privacy Rules for Kids

Biggest revamp in decade requires more consent from parents

(Newser) - A lot has changed online since 1998, when the FTC set up a privacy protection law for children online—and the federal organization believes it's time for an update. New rules expected within weeks would require companies to get parental consent for a wider range of data collection on...

Obama Campaign App Tracks Down Democrats

Map shows nearest 'blue' households for canvassers: ProPublica

(Newser) - Click a button on your iPhone and locate the nearest… Democrat? A new app unveiled by the Obama campaign displays a Google map speckled with blue flags representing the closest registered Democratic households to where you're standing, reports ProPublica . Each blue flag is accompanied by a first name, age,...

Obama: Use Tech to Abuse Rebels, We'll Sanction You

Executive order fingers entities backing Iran, Syria, but could be enlarged

(Newser) - If you use technology to help a repressive regime commit human rights abuses, you'll find yourself slapped with US sanctions. That's the message from President Obama, who this morning announced a new executive order specifically targeting those backing Iran and Syria via technology, though it could be expanded...

Facebook Tracks You Even After You Log Off: Lawsuit

Two attorneys file class-action suit over tracking cookies

(Newser) - Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims that it violated privacy laws by continuing to track users even after they logged off the site. The suit was filed by two renowned Baltimore attorneys on behalf of plaintiffs Laura Maguire and Christopher Simon, the Daily Record reports. The attorneys accuse...

Groupon Will Collect, Share More User Data, It Says in New Privacy Policy
  Groupon Is Watching You 
Jul 11, 2011 6:58 AM CDT

Groupon Is Watching You

Site will start collecting sharing more user data

(Newser) - Beware, bargain hunter: Groupon is looking over your shoulder. The daily deals site announced yesterday that it will collect and share more information about its users, in a move sure to attract the attention of federal regulators and privacy advocates. Also announced in the privacy policy changes: Groupon will market...

That 'Like' Button Is Tracking You

But Facebook and other companies claim it's an unintentional side effect

(Newser) - Those ubiquitous “Like” buttons are a convenient way to quickly share hilarious videos and buzzed-about articles with all your Facebook friends—but they’re also a convenient way for Facebook to track you, the Wall Street Journal reveals. Facebook’s “Like,” Twitter’s “Tweet," and...

Microsoft Adds Do-Not-Track to Internet Explorer

New version is out Tuesday

(Newser) - Good news for privacy enthusiasts: The new version of Internet Explorer, out Tuesday, will include a do-not-track tool, making Microsoft’s Web browser the first major one to offer such a feature. Internet Explorer, the most widely used browser, answered the call for a do-not-track system within just three months...

Firefox to Offer Do-Not-Track Tool ... With One Catch

Companies will first have to agree not to track you

(Newser) - If you don’t like the idea of online companies tracking your every move , you may want to start using Firefox. Mozilla announced its Web browser will be the first to answer the FTC’s call for a do-not-track system , the Wall Street Journal reports. Just one problem: In order...

Online Trackers to Tell You What They Know About You

Service to let users edit their demographics, or opt out

(Newser) - Online tracking companies are banding together to create a service where Internet users can view information collected about them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Via the Open Data Partnership, consumers will be able to edit their interests and demographics as gathered by eight tracking companies like BlueKai and eXelate—and...

Microsoft Execs Thwarted IE Privacy Plans

Defaults were changed to allow tracking and help advertisers

(Newser) - Microsoft had planned to give Internet Explorer 8.0 the most advanced privacy settings in the industry, until executives swept in and made the browser more advertiser-friendly. Explorer was supposed to keep out all kinds of common tracking tools, but Microsoft opted instead to turn the feature off as a...

Social Networking Deposes Porn as Web King

Users searching less for adult sites as they spend more time on Facebook et al.

(Newser) - Porn is no longer king online, thanks to the social-networking sites where people—particularly 18- to 24-year-olds—have become addicted to less X-rated forms of sharing, a Web analyst tells Reuters. “My theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don't have time...

Feds Want to Help Cover Your Web Tracks

FTC aims to limit companies' ability to watch consumers

(Newser) - The Federal Trade Commission is considering guidelines governing how online advertisers target consumers based on their Web surfing—and some lawmakers want them to be mandatory, the Washington Post reports. Privacy advocates are pushing to limit behavioral tracking, but some Internet companies say that could mean sites won’t be...

Web Inventor: Don't Track Me, Bro
Web Inventor: Don't Track
Me, Bro
Mar 17, 2008 5:35 PM CDT

Web Inventor: Don't Track Me, Bro

Internet creator decries spyware: 'You can't have' my data

(Newser) - He may have created a web that's worldwide, but Internet founder Tim Berners-Lee is very proprietary when it comes to tracking programs, such as Phorm, that allow ISPs to monitor their customers. Berners-Lee says he’d drop any company caught mining his data. “It’s mine—you can’t...

Web Tracking Opt-Out Plan Gets Panned

Online ad group's proposal clashes with FTC guidelines, privacy group desires

(Newser) - An online advertisers trade group has proposed guidelines for targeted advertising that don’t satisfy recent FTC recommendations. The Interactive Advertising Bureau proposal would make it harder for consumers to know if a website was storing their information; FTC guidelines suggest a “clear, consumer-friendly, and prominent statement” and easy...

16 Stories