In Minnesota, Democratic volunteers scour their local newspapers each morning for letters to the editor with a political slant. They pay attention to the names of callers on radio shows. They drive through their neighborhoods and jot down the addresses of campaign lawn signs. Then they feed the information into […] Read more »
Your Online Attention, Bought in an Instant
… On the Web, powerful algorithms are sizing you up, based on myriad data points: what you Google, the sites you visit, the ads you click. Then, in real time, the chance to show you an ad is auctioned to the highest bidder. … “Online consumers are being bought and […] Read more »
Tracking Online Clicks to Try to Sway Voters
… One of the hallmarks of this campaign is the use of increasingly sophisticated — but not always accurate — data-mining techniques to customize ads for voters based on the digital trails they leave as they visit Internet sites. It is a practice pioneered by online retailers who work with […] Read more »
How Companies Have Assembled Political Profiles for Millions of Internet Users
If you’re a registered voter and surf the web, one of sites you visit has almost certainly placed a tiny piece of data on your computer flagging your political preferences. That piece of data, called a cookie, marks you as a Democrat or Republican, when you last voted, and what […] Read more »
Study Finds Broad Wariness Over Online Tracking
As marketers, browser makers and government regulators spar over efforts to let consumers limit custom advertising online, a new study suggests that Americans are largely unaware of what that means and have a strong aversion to being tracked online. The majority of Americans surveyed by researchers at the Berkeley Center […] Read more »
Privacy Trumps Cybersecurity
Proposals to increase cybersecurity by allowing businesses and government to share information may enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, but Americans aren’t sold on the idea, the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll finds. [cont.] Josh Smith, National Journal Read more »