Internet users unexpectedly tracked

As sophomore Geena Shah searches her favorite dance videos on Youtube, multiple advertisements for online dance stores, Discount Dance and American Apparel, appear on the sidebar. The Internet has been tracking her activity online and deliberately introducing advertisements based on her latest searches. Like a scene out of “1984”, Shah worries that Big Brother is watching her online.

Behavior-based Internet tracking is a relatively new and effective way for advertisers to draw in potential customers that advertisers know will show extensive interest in their companies. Although it seems more convenient for customers to be led to websites that might interst them, these kinds of advertisements are invasive.

“I’m not really concerned with other people seeing what my interests are, but it’s a little creepy to think that a website has the ability to personally make connections based on what you do on the Internet,” Shah said.

Advertising companies typically use “cookies,” or small files on an individuals computer to monitor recent websites and searches. Many sites infer personal information such as age and gender based on what people search.

“The fact that these websites can reveal so much information about my individual interests and activity online is not only an invasion of privacy, but it can also become an issue with safety online,” sophomore Golshan Helfman said. “I’m worried about what others can see about such personal things like my age and gender.”

Although these advertisement companies believe this aspect of publicity will encourage customers, many Internet users feel that they are being “watched” and have little privacy. This can lead to feelings of resentment towards these advertisements.

“It should be up to the individual on whether or not we want them to suggest these advertisements to us, because it does make me, and many other people, uncomfortable,” Shah said.