I was aware previous to this assignment
of the tracking techniques and information both Google and Facebook kept of
their users. With that being said, I did not know how expansive the amount of
information was and to what degree the companies kept information. I am a daily
user of Facebook and just recently created a Google account strictly for the
email account and ease of video chatting with more than one person
simultaneously.
My
exploration into Google was a rather easy one. Google advertises to me when I
use search, Gmail, Youtube, and Maps. It has acquired that I am a male between
the ages of 18-24. The interesting fact is that Google believes my interests
are in the recording industry and Reggaeton music. I am not sure where this has
been acquired, because although I am extremely passionate and interested in
music, my favorite genres are R&B and Rap. I do not ever listen to
Reggaeton music or search for information about the genre. If this is the
information Google is using to advertise to me, it is going to be highly
ineffective. Google gets paid off of the amounts of clicks on their advertisements
through search engine optimization, but they will be unsuccessful targeting me
this way.
On
the other hand, my exploration into Facebook yielded more results. Facebook had
an extensive list of posts to my wall, all of my photos and events, and message
correspondence with people dating back about a year and a half. I had assumed
they kept track of all of that data seeing as anyone who is friends with me
could do the same. What I did find interesting was the fact that Facebook kept
a record of my contacts in my phone through using their app. Even more
surprising was that they track every time I login, log out, what browser I am
using, what type of computer, my IP address, and the coordinates of where I am
using my computer at. To me, this information was far more startling because
although I understand why they track my use of their website, having my
contacts from my phone and tracking my location I found to be an borderline
invasion of privacy. Facebook also uses my interests and pages I have liked on
Facebook at one time to target ads towards me. Things like Beyonce, Rap Music,
Buffalo Wings, Sports, and College basketball were just some of the buzz words
used to target advertisements towards me.
In
all, I cannot necessarily say I am extremely surprised by discovering these
things. Website tracking is nothing new – the reason for inventing cookies –
and should come as no surprise to anyone after the NSA’s leak on tracking phone
conversations and Internet use that was broken by Wikileaks. The NSA had to get
their information from somewhere, which can be reasonably deduced that the
information came from the websites themselves. I think it will be interesting
in the future to see how, if at all, tracking and privacy changes.
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