The Controversy Of Online Tracking

However, such a campaign did not motivate the audience into buying a product or getting them interested in enquiring about the company services. Therefore, focusing on corporate image could create passive interest, which might not translate into sales, resulting in lower returns on marketing dollars. They failed to target the consumer’s needs

Ever feel like you are being watched? How about having the feeling like some one is following you home from school? Well that is what it will be like if users do not have the privacy on the Internet they deserve. EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center), a advocacy group that has been fighting the Clinton Administration for tougher online consumer protection laws, and other privacy protection agencies have formed to protect the rights and privileges of the Internet user. With the U.S. Government, EPIC has had to step in and help small companies and Internet users with their own privacy problems, hackers getting into their systems and ruining the networks, and crackers stealing and decrypting private

Nowadays, many people own smartphones as well as other technological devices. We use them to do a variety of activities such as reading the news, shopping, surfing the web, etc. However, as we are doing these things, companies are tracking our actions, and often without our knowledge. For example, they can observe what products we spend time looking at, and then show more ads of that same item. Basically, the information they obtain from tracking us is utilised by various companies as a way to improve their marketing. While this sounds like a useful method, there is some controversy: is this an invasion of the customers’ privacy? After all, I am sure that everyone values their privacy, and would not be at ease knowing that what they do online is being tracked. Having considered both sides of the issue, I believe that companies should not be allowed to track customers without their consent.

Privacy is something that most people believe is not possible on the internet, but with the correct knowledge it can be possible. In Nicholas Carr’s essay “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty”, he states that “It is very easy to find information about people on the internet, even private things that people don’t expect others to be able to see” (538). People don’t realize that what they do online can affect their personal lives such as their credit score, the ads that are recommended to them, and even the cookies in their computer. While Carr may have great points, he may not have considered the ways people do have privacy. There are some ways to protect browsing, people just need to know how. Most browsers have a mode that allows people to visit sites without being tracked. There’s no history, and no cookies.

I drew this conclusion and told him that I didn't want to talk and that I am heading home. His reaction to this was very

In the present, the majority of companies are aware that they can’t serve optimally to all potential customers that exist in a given market. This situation is mainly due to the variety of preferences people and organizations have. However; advertisers

In the essay, “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty” by Nicholas Carr, he argues the importance of privacy when one is surfing the web. Carr writes how companies personalize ads they provide on the internet based on our personal information. We are not aware of the consequences and the information we disclose about ourselves on the internet. Everything we do on the internet is recorded and stored. Nicholas Carr uses ethos and counter argument/refutation to express to his audience that their privacy is being violated.

Do you know who is tracking your movements when your turn on your cell phone, or what is being done with that information? These are questions that I recently had to ask myself after reading two insightful articles. The first was by Ronald Bailey called “Your Cellphone is Spying on You” and the other was by Terry J. Allen entitled “Reach Out and Track Someone”. In Ronald Bailey’s article, he explores the use of cellular phone tracking technology by law enforcement and their recent attempts to expand the surveillance laws to include more use of cell phones to track users’ movements without their knowledge. In addition he gives us some perspective on the idea of a big brother watching over us by examining what a

In more recent years, the issue around Internet privacy is something that has been brought to everyone 's attention. In today 's society everything is based around social media and online shopping. By doing this people are making their information easily accessible for people to use. People document their whole lives on social media making it much easier for people to find information, that some may consider private, about them. When people post a picture with a location attached to it they think it 's harmless but there is a lack of privacy that is allowing people to get hold of information they don 't want out there. It has become much easier for people to get information due to the new technological advances that have been made in the recent years. Companies try to advertise to their customers through the Internet. They do this by personalizing their webpage to what they search, which violates privacy because they are tracking what customers search through cookies and data. Something as harmless as searching for baby clothes for your niece or nephew can turn in to your information being thrown out there and having these companies trying to reach you. Violation of privacy on the Internet is something we should accept because no matter what we try to do to keep our privacy people will always find a way around it. Stealing credit card information is as easy as bumping into someone. There are multiple ways people can defeat personal privacy and it is done through the use of

For marketers it may help their businesses if people click on the ads. But for consumers they have too much power on their computers. I personally think it is annoying having all these ads on the side on the screen half of them I could care less about. So it does not seem to make sense as to why they have all this power over what we browse on the internet. Unfortunately though internet tracking is dangerous and can go a lot further than using information for ads. CBS News wrote a story on a woman who was stalked and killed through information that is given out on the internet. “Complicating matters further are criminals who break into Web sites, steal the information and use it for personal gain,”(Sullivan.B, N.D). There should be better security tracking on the internet if marketers are going to have control to see what we do. It also seems that we are not always educated either though on what settings we have up on our computers. Most people have their third party cookies enabled because we are unaware of the privacy issues, which result in the cookies, (Fighting Internet Surveillance, N.D.).. “There's nothing necessarily sinister about this subterranean data exchange: this is, after all, the advertising ecosystem that supports free online content” (MADRIGAL.A, 2012). It seems like there is a divide in what people believe is right against wrong. In one sense if they did not track what we did companies would have no ads to use n the side of our screens. With companies tracking what we do it can also lead to more personal issues that could later harm

Laws that give you the power to chick yes, let me in this site, which gives trackers permission to enter your data. Or no, which gives them websites that they would have to alter with to get to your information. There are other ways to track a consumer, cell phones, cars, etc. Tracking could be a good thing in some cases. Such as finding a missing child, getting directions, or finding a criminal.

Adverts have been around for hundreds of years, and have since developed hugely as technology has enabled us to advance even more. Adverts have developed from illustration with text in the early 1700’s to large high definition photograph/illustration on billboard or TV advertisements with high definition. (Adage, website, 1999) Advertising in the 21st century doesn’t just stop at billboards and TV advertisements. We have now gone onto using every space available to us to advertise, we are surrounded by adverts, or even advertisements surrounds us. Its endless, everywhere we go, we see adverts posted on a wall or on websites that we visit.

We have all experienced it. The tingles down your spine while your sixth sense picks up someone’s harsh eyes scanning you. You are being watched. As the little hairs stand up on your neck and the chill of judgment floods your body, you choke on the insecurity that comes over you. Some break out in a nervous sweat and drown themselves in doubt; others do not hesitate to send beams of criticism back. Many stare with innocent intentions while others purposely hope to provoke anxiety. However, if you did not know that someone’s cruel eyes were on you, would it be just as bothersome? Since 2000, internet security has been an issue that many feel is a violation of their privacy. This controversial topic has hit almost all newspapers with

The words, “Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say” were said by Edward Snowden who is a computer professional in America. Similarly, the essays “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” “Web Users Get as Much as They Give,” and “Facebook Is Using You” from Nicholas Carr, Jim Harper, and Lori Andrews respectively points out that the internet privacy is good and bad. However, the articles by Carr and Andrews are based on the negative side of the internet privacy, which means that the internet privacy is not good. On the other hand, Harper’s article is based on the positive side of the internet privacy, which means that the internet privacy is good and scary, but people need to be careful of their own information and browsing histories, and websites. Jim Harper’s essay is more relevant and reasonable than the Nicholas Carr and Lori Andrews’s essays. However, Harper seems more persuasive to readers because he believes that the internet is good if people use it in a right way, whereas Carr and Andrews believe that the internet is not good at all.

Advertising has always been an important part of our society. The history of advertising can be traced to pre-modern history when it served an important purpose by allowing sellers to effectively compete with other merchants for the attention of clients in Ancient Egypt. From 1704 when the first newspaper advertisement was announced, it gradually grows into a major force in American society based primarily on newspapers and magazines (Ad Age Advertising Century, 1999). It not only helps to raise the target demographics’ awareness of issues, but also educate consumers with the benefits of the product. However, advertising cannot target a particular person before the emerging of World Wide Web.