data tracking

6 Stories

Mastercard, Visa to Use Purchases in Ad Targeting?

Companies also hope to mine your DNA

(Newser) - What you buy in the real world could eventually determine the ads you see online. Visa and MasterCard are studying ways of tracking consumer purchases in order to target online advertising—a plan that could take a heavy toll on online anonymity, the Wall Street Journal reports. One example offered...

Apple Fixes iPhone Tracking Problem

Now users can delete the data entirely

(Newser) - The uproar over the revelation that your iPhone is tracking you has led Apple to fix the problem. A software update released yesterday reduces the amount of location data stored on iPhones and iPads from a year to about a week. The iOS 4.3.3 software also allows users...

Beware: Your Cell Phone Is Watching You

Wireless firms track users' every move

(Newser) - Your cell phone knows when you're sleeping, when you're awake, and whether you prefer air or land travel. German politician Malte Spitz recently took Deutsche Telekom to court to determine exactly how much it knows about his whereabouts, the New York Times reports. Data in hand, he saw that Deutsche...

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...

EU Takes Aim at Search Engines Over Personal Data

Companies should delete users' info within six months, advisory group says

(Newser) - A European advisory body has sharply criticized Internet search companies’ use of personal data, the BBC reports. Its recommendations, likely to be adopted by the European Commission, say search companies should delete users’ information within six months. The opinion comes alongside reports of a new kind of computer cookie that...

NSA Spying Branches Out
NSA Spying Branches Out
Mar 10, 2008 2:50 PM CDT

NSA Spying Branches Out

Domestic calls, email, financial transactions under scrutiny—all without a warrant

(Newser) - Traditionally charged with foreign surveillance, the NSA has increasingly been analyzing data collected domestically, reports the Wall Street Journal—on a scale comparable to that of a Pentagon proposal Congress killed 5 years ago. "When it got taken apart, it didn't get thrown away," says a former government...

6 Stories