Web Security

Web Security



Web Security

Most of us do not realize how easy it is for our online behavior to be tracked. ISPs, websites, and advertising networks all have ways of tracking your online behavior. They track you to provide targeted advertising, classify you into a demographic group, and resell information about you to other companies (David, 2001, 151-198). Similar to mail-order catalog companies that sell and re-sell your name, address, and phone number to others trying to sell you related products (the beloved “junk mail” in your home mailbox and telemarketing calls to your home phone), so can website and advertising networks sell the information they gather about you to other advertisers and private companies. However, unlike the catalog company that knows only very basic information about you, a website potentially knows much more. Websites do their tracking by looking at cookies, IP addresses, web Bugs, and you are browsing history, among other techniques.

The four main ways that you are being tracked online:

Cookies

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data that websites can store on your computer. This is the most direct way of tracking your behavior. A website can "tag" your computer with a cookie, which identifies you as a unique visitor to the site. When you visit the site again later, the website can read the value of this cookie that is stored on your computer to identify you and know that you are visiting again. This means that every time you visit that site, they know its user (David, 2001, 151-198).

In some cases, they can even access websites as "you." There are four types of cookies:

HTTP Cookies

These cookies come from the website a suer is visiting and are usually intended to stay on your computer permanently. We recommend that you delete all HTTP cookies at the end of each browser session (Miyazaki, 2008, 19-33).

Session Cookies

These cookies are the same as HTTP cookies, except that while HTTP cookies are intended to be permanent, session cookies expire when you close your browser. Some sites, such as Gmail, require the use of cookies during a session in order to function properly, but they do not need to have cookies stored permanently on your computer.

Third Party Cookies

Web pages often have pieces of content from more than one source (such as ads posted along the sidebar of a page you are viewing). Domains other than the main ...