IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014 - 39

OPINION

KATHERINE
ALBRECHT

LIZ MCINTYRE

How and Why to Keep the NSA
Out of Your Private Stuff -
Even If You've "Got Nothing to Hide"

H

ave you noticed that after shopping for
shoes online, you see advertisements for
similar shoes on seemingly every site you
visit? It's not a coincidence. You are being
watched by Internet marketers. Here are some of the
sneaky ways they have cooked up to learn about you
and follow your online activities.
1) They tap into your data. Whenever you make a
purchase, create an online account or give your
name and email address to a website, you're
accepting a mountain of fine print - and probably volunteering to be tracked, too. What you do
when logged into that account also gets logged
and tied to your identity.
2) They "review" your email and instant messages.
Check the terms of many free services and you'll
find they scan your messages for keywords. This
gives them a goldmine of private data, in addition
to your signup information. Check out the fine
print in Yahoo's privacy policy as an example [1].
3) They know you wear your location on your
sleeve. Your computer transmits an Internet Protocol (IP) address that tells websites where to deliver
content. Since IP addresses are assigned by geography, marketers use them to get a general sense of

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2014.2369571
Date of publication: 1 December 2014

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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WINTER 2014

your location. That's why you may see ads for "Hot
babes in [your town name] waiting to meet YOU!"
4) They milk your cookies. Cookies are bits of code
that let websites keep track of you over time. Some
cookies are necessary, for example, to remember
what's in your online shopping cart. But many
websites place tracking cookies in your browser
just to monitor your movements across the Internet.
5) They "dust" for fingerprints. Computer browsers are as unique as the people using them.
Different time settings, add-ons and privacy preferences create fingerprints that are useful in profiling and tracking you [2].
6) They insert other stealthy trackers. Web beacons, pixel trackers and flash cookies are just a
few of the other creative tricks marketers have
dreamed up to stealthily track consumers.
Fortunately, you can give Internet trackers the slip
to reduce your online tracking footprint. Here's how:
1) Seek out privacy-friendly alternatives. A small
but growing number of websites promise not to
log your visits or track you [3].
2) Manage cookies. Set your browser privacy
options to reject third-party cookies, block marketing cookies, and delete cookies each time
you close your browser. Look online for directions explaining how to do this in most browsers
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014

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