7 ms·

you mean a cookie. PII is like your name, address, phone number, etc. cookies are used to track your browser, not that stuff. an IP address is actually an exam

you mean a cookie. PII is like your name, address, phone number, etc. cookies are used to track your browser, not that stuff. an IP address is actually an example of something that could be both PII and useful to tracking your browser, but there are practical and legal drawbacks to try to do that.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
The cookie links back to a demographic profile that ranks you against other consumers to determine how "valuable" you are. "Ahh yes. Sandra will be ovulating soon. We can charge a premium to present just the ads she needs right now."
- nerfhammer 7y ago
  ad networks don't offer targeting that is anywhere near that level of sophistication. demographic profiling is really coarse and not very accurate. they're probably just using a history of other requests they've gotten for that fingerprint, and trying a few coarse predictions based on that. I also don't know about "sites" offering "PII" back to ad networks based on a fingerprint match. but I could be wrong about that or maybe people are using a more expansive definition of PII.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/how-period-tracking-apps-are-monetizing-women-s-extremely-personal-data https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/how-perio... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18988289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18988289 (I know it's Bloomberg, but still.)
    - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      It isn't just apps. Data aggregators are inferring personal information from retail purchases. That all feeds into your profile.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    The profiling exposed at the top level is coarse. I guarantee you that companies the likes of Acxiom are tracking every woman's periods and they've been doing it for decades. That PII gets squirreled away into their database and feeds into whatever genericised category it is useful for. Sign the right NDA and you get all the goods.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago

The cookie links back to a demographic profile that ranks you against other consumers to determine how "valuable" you are. "Ahh yes. Sandra will be ovulating soon. We can charge a premium to present just the ads she needs right now."

nerfhammer 7y ago
ad networks don't offer targeting that is anywhere near that level of sophistication. demographic profiling is really coarse and not very accurate. they're probably just using a history of other requests they've gotten for that fingerprint, and trying a few coarse predictions based on that. I also don't know about "sites" offering "PII" back to ad networks based on a fingerprint match. but I could be wrong about that or maybe people are using a more expansive definition of PII.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/how-period-tracking-apps-are-monetizing-women-s-extremely-personal-data https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/how-perio... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18988289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18988289 (I know it's Bloomberg, but still.)
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    It isn't just apps. Data aggregators are inferring personal information from retail purchases. That all feeds into your profile.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  The profiling exposed at the top level is coarse. I guarantee you that companies the likes of Acxiom are tracking every woman's periods and they've been doing it for decades. That PII gets squirreled away into their database and feeds into whatever genericised category it is useful for. Sign the right NDA and you get all the goods.