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All the entries posted on November 01, 2007.
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Thursday, November 1, 2007
How much is your Internet privacy worth?
The Federal Trade Commission is taking up the thorny issue of Internet privacy this week.
The question of how much information should be collected about our Internet search habits, how it should be used and who controls it presents a double-edged sword to the consumer. Here’s what The New York Times said: (click link).
Web marketing companies track your path on the Internet and then craft specific advertisements for you, targeting your tastes based on the sites you’ve visited.
Some consumer groups are asking for a “do-not-track” list but none of us wants to pay to access the sites we visit. But without enough advertising, couldn’t it come to that?
Advertising is crucial to Internet sites. So wouldn’t advertising based on your specific tastes be better than random ads about women’s clothing when you’re not into cross-dressing?
There’s no easy answer to this. But one thing that might help is for the consumer to have access to the information collected about him and to be able to correct it. That’s the least that marketers who are making money off of us can do.
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