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Seems like this would have been a good opportunity to actually show you the relevant data they’re collecting from your visit.

by et2o 7y ago

dylan604 7y ago
I would love to see a site provide a little pop-out window with all of the mined data displayed for the site users to see. I could see where the 3rd parties mining that data would not want all of the users to see that. I've never used GA or similar, but I seriously doubt that the 3rd parties provide the site owners/developers a method for being able to do this. They want to drive eyeballs back to their site to view the metrics.
- dmurray 7y ago
  Agreed, if Vox had actually done this it would have been underwhelming.
  - teekert 7y ago
    Something like this: [0]? [0] https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
    - dmurray 7y ago
      Yes exactly, that's really underwhelming to me. It doesn't tell me my age, gender, location or anything about my browser or purchasing history. I'm certain real advertisers can do better. I'm using stock Chrome on Android.
      - fingerlocks 7y ago
        I’m not sure they can. How would that work? It’s not at all obvious to me, unless you explicitly provide that information by creating an account and logging in. Tracking pixels are incapable of such feats. At best they have your IP address from the latest visit, and information about your behavior on that site. I don’t see how they can magically conjure information you haven’t provided.
        beatgammit 7y ago
        They just connect your browser to an account that has that data. If you have a Facebook account, a tracking pixel makes it easy. If you don't provide that data, they can guess based on browsing history (e.g. if you look up baby products, you're likely in the 20-30 age range). They can use AI to see how your online behavior matches up with other people in a known demographic. All of that data paints a surprisingly clear picture, even if you don't create an account (e.g. browsing data by IP is likely from the same person/family).
        fingerlocks 7y ago
        My understanding is that the tracker collects your information, not the trackee, from the tracking pixel, correct? So that doesn't give some random website any additional information about you. But I'm really curious here, because I'm an applications developer and sort of in the dark about a lot of web technology. If I wanted to create a website that just absorbs the kind of information you're alleged is possible, how precisely is that done? How do I access the user's browsing history that you claim is possible? Is there a tutorial on this hand-waving AI-magic? Even if I had somehow acquired a mega database of granular user data, how do I key in on the random-user-that-just-loaded-my-page? Sorry if I being incredulous. It's because I am.
Traster 7y ago
The problem is that they can't do that to completion- they often can't know the data that their advertisers are collecting and they certainly can't share the data that they're collecting from 3rd parties using 'profiles'. An important fact from this article is your privacy is often the minimum of the privacy settings you have set. So it might be true that you've never authorized Vox to monitor your demographic data, but they know enough to get that information from other companies. Legally they can't share that information.

Seems like this would have been a good opportunity to actually show you the relevant data they’re collecting from your visit.

by et2o 7y ago

Seems like this would have been a good opportunity to actually show you the relevant data they’re collecting from your visit.

dylan604 7y ago

I would love to see a site provide a little pop-out window with all of the mined data displayed for the site users to see. I could see where the 3rd parties mining that data would not want all of the users to see that. I've never used GA or similar, but I seriously doubt that the 3rd parties provide the site owners/developers a method for being able to do this. They want to drive eyeballs back to their site to view the metrics.

dmurray 7y ago
Agreed, if Vox had actually done this it would have been underwhelming.
- teekert 7y ago
  Something like this: [0]? [0] https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
  - dmurray 7y ago
    Yes exactly, that's really underwhelming to me. It doesn't tell me my age, gender, location or anything about my browser or purchasing history. I'm certain real advertisers can do better. I'm using stock Chrome on Android.
    - fingerlocks 7y ago
      I’m not sure they can. How would that work? It’s not at all obvious to me, unless you explicitly provide that information by creating an account and logging in. Tracking pixels are incapable of such feats. At best they have your IP address from the latest visit, and information about your behavior on that site. I don’t see how they can magically conjure information you haven’t provided.
      - beatgammit 7y ago
        They just connect your browser to an account that has that data. If you have a Facebook account, a tracking pixel makes it easy. If you don't provide that data, they can guess based on browsing history (e.g. if you look up baby products, you're likely in the 20-30 age range). They can use AI to see how your online behavior matches up with other people in a known demographic. All of that data paints a surprisingly clear picture, even if you don't create an account (e.g. browsing data by IP is likely from the same person/family).
        fingerlocks 7y ago
        My understanding is that the tracker collects your information, not the trackee, from the tracking pixel, correct? So that doesn't give some random website any additional information about you. But I'm really curious here, because I'm an applications developer and sort of in the dark about a lot of web technology. If I wanted to create a website that just absorbs the kind of information you're alleged is possible, how precisely is that done? How do I access the user's browsing history that you claim is possible? Is there a tutorial on this hand-waving AI-magic? Even if I had somehow acquired a mega database of granular user data, how do I key in on the random-user-that-just-loaded-my-page? Sorry if I being incredulous. It's because I am.

Traster 7y ago

The problem is that they can't do that to completion- they often can't know the data that their advertisers are collecting and they certainly can't share the data that they're collecting from 3rd parties using 'profiles'. An important fact from this article is your privacy is often the minimum of the privacy settings you have set. So it might be true that you've never authorized Vox to monitor your demographic data, but they know enough to get that information from other companies. Legally they can't share that information.