Kelsey Marques, 17, knew it couldn’t be a coincidence when ads for a Chevy Malibu showed up on websites she viewed just a day after she had searched online for that exact car.
“It’s a little creepy,” says the high school senior from Clark, New Jersey.
Even creepier, she says, is how her Instagram account seems to know so much about her—suggesting things like cheerleading videos or hair and makeup tutorials—just based on the kinds of posts she “likes” or users she follows, she says.
“It’s a little bit weirder just because they’re using your personality,” she says. “They’re developing a profile of you.”
The reality is that whenever you’re on the web, you’re being watched. Companies are gathering all the information they can about you: your friends, where you live, the videos you watch, the games you play—and maybe even how you’re feeling. Their goal is to sell your digital dossier to marketers, who use it to try to show you digital ads that match your tastes.
For privacy advocates, it’s all too close for comfort. Critics charge that much of this corporate data digging is done without users’ direct consent, and that it’s hard—if not impossible—to opt out of the tracking (see “Stop Following Me!,” below). And it can even lead to discrimination.
“Commercial surveillance has been baked into the foundation of the internet,”says Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, a digital privacy watchdog. “When you sign onto Facebook, you’re signing your digital life away.”
Kelsey Marques, 17, searched online for a Chevy Malibu. The next day, ads for that exact car showed up on websites she viewed. She knew it couldn’t be a coincidence.
“It’s a little creepy,” says the high school senior from Clark, New Jersey.
Even creepier, she says, is how her Instagram account seems to know so much about her. The social platform suggests things like cheerleading videos or hair and makeup tutorials. It bases its suggestions on the kinds of posts she “likes” or users she follows, she says.
“It’s a little bit weirder just because they’re using your personality,” she says. “They’re developing a profile of you.”
The reality is that whenever you’re on the web, you’re being watched. Companies are gathering all the information they can about you. That includes info on your friends, where you live, the videos you watch, and the games you play. They might even collect data on how you’re feeling. Their goal is to sell your digital dossier to marketers. These marketers use your online history to try to show you digital ads that match your tastes.
For privacy advocates, it’s all too close for comfort. Critics charge that much of this corporate data digging is done without users’ direct consent. They also claim that it’s hard—if not impossible—to opt out of the tracking (see “Stop Following Me!,” below). And it can even lead to discrimination.
“Commercial surveillance has been baked into the foundation of the internet,” says Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, a digital privacy watchdog. “When you sign onto Facebook, you’re signing your digital life away.”