Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Lurking of the Behavioral Tracking Shadow

Link to May 2 New York Times article, "Shoppers Who Can't Have Secrets".

Excerpt:   It’s called behavioral tracking:

•Cameras that can follow you from the minute you enter a store to the moment you hit the checkout counter, recording every T-shirt you touch, every mannequin you ogle, every time you blow your nose or stop to tie your shoelaces.

•Web coupons embedded with bar codes that can identify, and alert retailers to, the search terms you used to find them and, in some cases, even your Facebook information and your name.

•Mobile marketers that can find you near a store clothing rack, and send ads to your cellphone based on your past preferences and behavior
.

[snip]

But these and other surveillance techniques are also reminders that advances in data collection are far outpacing personal data protection.

For some folks, this issue is apparently a big fat "SO WHAT?!"

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