3 ms·

I may be one of the few and perhaps I've just been desensitized with all the social network invasion, but I don't find this stuff that reprehensible. At worst,

by physcab 14y ago

I may be one of the few and perhaps I've just been desensitized with all the social network invasion, but I don't find this stuff that reprehensible. At worst, its moderately annoying because its one more email that I have to archive but its definitely on the lowest totem pole of annoyances. Recruiters have been cold calling and emailing me for years based off of my LinkedIn and Github profiles and all I have to do is tell them "no thanks" and my life goes on. What's the big deal?

citricsquid 14y ago
it means if you visit a website they could know exactly who you are, might not be an annoyance when it's a technology startups homepage but what if it's a pornography site, or a site for an engagement ring, or a surprise holiday you're planning? There's lots of examples where this could be a concern. Anything with questionable legality (eg: piracy) would be a more pressing concern.
pixl97 14y ago
Webtrak4.1 Profile for physcab.* "Buys K-Pop from Amazon.com" "Visits RedTube at least 3 times a week" "Spends at least 15 minutes in gay porn section" "Made campaign donations to Republican National Convention" "Attends Clivesville Baptist Church" * no this is not really his web profile. But this is the kind of things web bugs leak. And while your life my be so boring that it doesn't matter to you, may other people have information they would rather not share with every stranger on the net.
marshray 14y ago
We used to call the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" for collecting about one tenth or less of this data on its people. That and rounding them up en masse to send to the labor camps. In the US we had this thing called "McCarthyism". For a while back in the 1950's you could very easily be fired from a professional job for having read certain materials (mainly those from the Evil Empire of course) or having had certain political discussions when in college. Just wait a few years until you need to find a health insurance plan that will agree to pay for the expensive medical treatments that will let you live a few decades extra. We'll see if your past web surfing and consumer habits make you worth keeping around.

by physcab 14y ago

citricsquid 14y ago

it means if you visit a website they could know exactly who you are, might not be an annoyance when it's a technology startups homepage but what if it's a pornography site, or a site for an engagement ring, or a surprise holiday you're planning? There's lots of examples where this could be a concern. Anything with questionable legality (eg: piracy) would be a more pressing concern.

pixl97 14y ago

Webtrak4.1 Profile for physcab.* "Buys K-Pop from Amazon.com" "Visits RedTube at least 3 times a week" "Spends at least 15 minutes in gay porn section" "Made campaign donations to Republican National Convention" "Attends Clivesville Baptist Church" * no this is not really his web profile. But this is the kind of things web bugs leak. And while your life my be so boring that it doesn't matter to you, may other people have information they would rather not share with every stranger on the net.

marshray 14y ago

We used to call the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" for collecting about one tenth or less of this data on its people. That and rounding them up en masse to send to the labor camps. In the US we had this thing called "McCarthyism". For a while back in the 1950's you could very easily be fired from a professional job for having read certain materials (mainly those from the Evil Empire of course) or having had certain political discussions when in college. Just wait a few years until you need to find a health insurance plan that will agree to pay for the expensive medical treatments that will let you live a few decades extra. We'll see if your past web surfing and consumer habits make you worth keeping around.