The largest U.S. websites are installing new and intrusive
consumer-tracking
technologies on the computers of people visiting their sites-in some
cases,
more than 100 tracking tools at a time-a Wall Street Journal investigation
has found.
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lightly regulated, emerging industry of data-gatherers who are in effect
establishing a new business model for the Internet: one based on intensive
surveillance of people to sell data about, and predictions of, their
interests and activities, in real time.
The Journal's study shows the extent to which Web users are in effect
exchanging personal data for the broad access to information and services
that is a defining feature of the Internet.
In an effort to quantify the reach and sophistication of the tracking
industry, the Journal examined the 50 most popular websites in the U.S. to
measure the quantity and capabilities of the "cookies," "beacons" and
other
trackers installed on a visitor's computer by each site. Together, the 50
sites account for roughly 40% of U.S. page-views.
It's rarely a coincidence when you see Web ads for products that match
your
interests. WSJ's Christina Tsuei explains how advertisers use cookies to
track your online habits.
The 50 sites installed a total of 3,180 tracking files on a test computer
used to conduct the study. Only one site, the encyclopedia Wikipedia.org,
installed none. Twelve sites, including IAC/InterActive Corp.'s
Dictionary.com, Comcast Corp.'s Comcast.net and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com,
installed more than 100 tracking tools apiece in the course of the
Journal's
test.
The Journal also surveyed its own site, WSJ.com, which doesn't rank among
the top 50 by visitors. WSJ.com installed 60 tracking files, slightly
below
the 64 average for the top 50 sites.
Some two-thirds of the tracking tools installed-2,224-came from 131
companies that, for the most part, are in the business of following
Internet
users to create rich databases of consumer profiles that can be sold. The
companies that placed the most such tools were Google Inc., Microsoft. and
Quantcast Corp., all of which are in the business of targeting ads at
people
online.
Dig Deeper
The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets The Journal's Methodology What They
Know About You Digits: Your Questions on Digital Privacy Digits: Analyzing
What You Have Typed Digits: Lawsuit Tackles Files That 'Re-Spawn' Cookies
Full Coverage: wsj.com/WTK Glossary
Key tracking terminology
How to Protect Yourself
Almost every major website you visit is tracking your online activity.
Here's a step-by-step guide to fending off trackers.
View Interactive
The Tracking Ecosystem
Surfing the Internet kickstarts a process that passes information about
you
and your interests to tracking companies and advertisers. See how it
works.
Google, Microsoft and Quantcast all said they don't track individuals by
name and offer Internet users a way to remove themselves from their
tracking
networks. Comcast, MSN and Dictionary.com said they disclose tracking
practices in their privacy policies, and said their visitors aren't
identified by name.
The state of the art is growing increasingly intrusive, the Journal found.
Some tracking files can record a person's keystrokes online and then
transmit the text to a data-gathering company that analyzes it for
content,
tone and clues to a person's social connections. Other tracking files can
re-spawn trackers that a person may have deleted.
To measure the sensitivity of the data gathered by tracking companies, the
Journal created an "exposure index" for the top 50 sites. Dictionary.com
ranked highest in exposing users to potentially aggressive surveillance:
It
installed 168 tracking tools that didn't let users decline to be tracked,
and 121 tools that, according to their privacy statements, don't rule out
collecting financial or health data. Dictionary.com attributed the number
of
tools to its use of many different ad networks, each of which puts tools
on
its site.
Some of the tracking files identified by the Journal were so detailed that
they verged on being anonymous in name only. They enabled data-gathering
companies to build personal profiles that could include age, gender, race,
zip code, income, marital status and health concerns, along with recent
purchases and favorite TV shows and movies.
The ad industry says tracking doesn't violate anyone's privacy because the
data sold doesn't identify people by name, and the tracking activity is
disclosed in privacy policies. And while many companies are involved in
collecting, analyzing and selling the data, they provide a useful service
by
raising the chance Internet users see ads and information relevant to them
personally.
alt="" width="262" height="176"/>"We are delivering free content toconsumers," says Mike Zaneis, vice president of public policy for the
Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group of advertisers and
publishers.
"Sometimes it means that we get involved in a very complex ecosystem with
lots of third parties."
The growing use and power of tracking technology have begun to raise
regulatory concerns. Congress is considering laws to limit tracking. The
Federal Trade Commission is developing privacy guidelines for the
industry.
If "you were in the Gap, and the sales associate said to you, 'OK, from
now
on, since you shopped here today, we are going to follow you around the
mall
and view your consumer transactions,' no person would ever agree to that,"
Sen. George LeMieux, R-Florida, said this week in a Senate hearing on
Internet privacy.
Write to Julia Angwin at julia.angwin@wsj.com
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