HOW YOU WEBSITE ID CAN BE TRACK

Have you noticed that after shopping for shoes online, you see ads for similar shoes on seemingly every site you visit? It’s not a coincidence. You are being watched by Internet marketers. They make it their business to know everything about you to serve advertising targeted to your interests.

Here are six of their strategies:

1. They leak 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 the services scan your messages for keywords. This gives them a goldmine of private data, in addition to your sign up information. Check out the fine print in Yahoo’s privacy policy as an example: https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/mail/ymailfaq/

3. They know you wear your location on your sleeve.

Your computer transmits an Internet Protocol address that tells websites where to deliver content. Since IP addresses are assigned by geography, marketers use them to get a general sense of your location. That’s why you may see ads for “Hot babes in [your town name] waiting to meet YOU!” Marketers milk your tracking cookies.

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 shopping cart when you shop online. 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.

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.