Sites Feed Personal Details to New Tracking Industry

Posted on July 30, 2010 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

 

The Wall Street Journal, Page A1

The largest U.S. websites are installing new and intrusive consumer-tracking technologies on the computers of people visiting their sites—in some cases, more than 100 tracking tools at a time—a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

The tracking files represent the leading edge of a lightly regulated, emerging industry of data-gatherers who are in effect establishing a new business model for the Internet: one based on intensive surveillance of people to sell data about, and predictions of, their interests and activities, in real time.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal. See the interactive database accompanying the article and see the full What They Know series online.

The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets

Posted on July 30, 2010 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

A Journal investigation finds that one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet is the business of spying on consumers. First in a series.

The Wall Street Journal, Page W1

Brian McCord for the Wall Street Journal

Ashley Hayes-Beaty

Hidden inside Ashley Hayes-Beaty’s computer, a tiny file helps gather personal details about her, all to be put up for sale for a tenth of a penny.

The file consists of a single code— 4c812db292272995-e5416a323e79bd37—that secretly identifies her as a 26-year-old female in Nashville, Tenn. The code knows that her favorite movies include “The Princess Bride,” “50 First Dates” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” It knows she enjoys the “Sex and the City” series. It knows she browses entertainment news and likes to take quizzes.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal and see the full What They Know series online.

Who Owns Your Name on Twitter?

Posted on May 19, 2009 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

The Wall Street Journal, The Decoder column

Social networks can be friendly places, but they are not democracies. Nor are they free markets. They are authoritarian regimes with whimsical and arbitrary rules.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Facebook: Can It Be Tamed?

Posted on April 21, 2009 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

The Wall Street Journal, The Decoder column

My Facebook account is becoming unmanageable. It’s filled with updates, notifications, messages, wall postings, pokes, notes, friend requests and group requests (and that’s just a small sampling of it all). My Facebook correspondents range from professional contacts, to friends and family, to people I don’t really know at all.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Recipe for a Successful Viral Video Campaign

Posted on February 17, 2009 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

The Wall Street Journal, The Decoder column

When Judson Laipply posted his six-minute “Evolution of Dance” video to YouTube in April of 2006, he didn’t advertise it at all. One month later, someone noticed his frenzied moves and e-mailed it to a friend. That friend e-mailed to other friends and more than 100 million views later, the rest is history. “It was all just pure luck” Mr. Laipply says.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

A Problem for Hot Web Outfits: Keeping Pages Free From Porn

Posted on May 16, 2006 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

To Help MySpace Sell Ads, Photo Site Hires Checkers And Tests Software Filters

The Wall Street Journal, Page One

DENVER — Working quickly, Photobucket.com employee Jeff Gers can look at nearly 150,000 images on his computer screen during an eight-hour shift, or about 300 a minute. His job is to find and destroy anything that might cause offense, a task that’s getting harder all the time.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Elusive Spammer Sends EarthLink on Long Chase

Posted on May 7, 2003 by juliaangwin — No Comments ↓

Web Service Uses Lawyers, Private Eyes To Track Buffalo Sender of Junk E-Mails

The Wall Street Journal, Page One

ATLANTA — For more than a year, Mary Youngblood has been chasing the “Buffalo Spammer.”

The 34-year-old Ms. Youngblood, who sports a picture of Darth Vader on her company ID badge, works at the headquarters of EarthLink Inc., a bigInternet-access provider. She leads a team of more than a dozen investigators whose job it is to find spammers, hackers and other “bad guys” who haunt the company’s network.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

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