JWM - Volume 3, Issue 4 - (Page 79)

© fredrik broden with Ghostery, the application will post a small purple window on the screen, listing the companies tracking online behavior (it, like all tracking, is particular to the browser you’re using). Ghostery also offers the option of blocking them. a morning look at The New York Times home page can mean as many as 17 companies being alerted. a quick internet search tacks on another 12. Even a bank’s account page draws a few. it gives an internet user pause. Before you get too paranoid, understand that data collection is nothing new. “People have always been trying to connect people in systematic ways. in the 19th century, people had lists they sold, public lists,” turow says. “most of the data that marketers start with are public, census, motor vehicle records; they would send people to courthouses to collect information. if you know how many people own a car in a community, you know more about who has money.” What Can You Do? So marketers have an overwhelming amount of data about almost anyone who uses the internet. what’s the harm? “typically the worst-case scenarios are the ones that thankfully don’t seem to happen very often—say, the ability of a company to find sexual preferences or health, and they could deny you employment,” turow says. “But that doesn’t yet happen.” and the positive does happen: targeted ads can reach their targets effectively. a deal for a luxury car might reach a shopper, once marketers know where to find him. But there’s a problem with this possibility too, turow says: it contains a strong potential for inequity. that shopper might get a better—or worse—deal than his neighbor because the data may inform marketers about ability and willingness to pay. what’s a computer user to do? while there are browsers that don’t allow tracking—notably Safari, for mac users—and anonymizers exist to shield your data, the direction of technology, particularly mobile technology, is in the direction of more tracking (including geodata that contains location information), not less. Users of websites and mobile devices should read privacy documents carefully—there is still some access they can control, but only if they know about it. indeed, the only way forward is to insist on greater transparency. “when it comes to anything like finance, health, it shouldn’t be a question,” turow says. “it should automatically opt you out and you would have to choose to opt in.” But the truth is, it all depends on what consumers know—and what they want. thomas, herself an avid online shopper, notes, “i am one of those people who is annoyed if the ads aren’t relevant at this point. i go to my Google preferences and choose which areas of ads i want to receive. i have found new products and new companies i was not aware of— it makes it easy for someone with a quite busy life to be out in the shopping world in a way i wouldn’t be otherwise.” the internet, for all its difficulties, is something consumers wouldn’t want to live without. “it is an adsupported internet,” thomas notes. “the more [consumers] understand it, the more they are comfortable with that transaction, and they would rather have the content and the consumer-supported marketing than not.” just thinking about losing the free content we’ve grown accustomed to is daunting. “i think the internet is the most wonderful breakthrough,” says Beed. “it’s like the industrial revolution. it’s such a rich, wonderful resource.” But it is ever-evolving, and if its users want to retain a modicum of control, they should cultivate an understanding of what is going on beneath the surface. “there are no easy solutions,” turow says. “i think it’s important for people to demand tough answers. i think the more we learn about it and are willing to question our public officials, the better it will be.” [ J WM MAGAZINE 79 j w m a r r i o t t. c o m http://www.JWMARRIOTT.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JWM - Volume 3, Issue 4

Jwm - Fall 2013
Contents
JW Experts
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
Distinctive Products, People, Ideas & Style
Well-Being
Food + Drink
Visions of Sugarplums
The Portal
Austin at the Starting Line
Details, Details
The Tastes of the Year
Not So Private Lives
JW Experience
My Passion

JWM - Volume 3, Issue 4