I just listened to an interesting show on To The Point (NPR)
http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp111125is_there_such_a_thin
on how your browsing data is used to target ads on the sites you visit.
One company, LotAMe, was on the show and mentioned that your profiles are
available on-line and you can edit them or opt out completely.
http://www.lotame.com/privacy-center/preferences/
There are folks buying bulk data for this sort of thing, often from Amazon,
Google, Facebook etc. Google's "dashboard" for your profile is here:
https://www.google.com/dashboard/
I plan to look into more of these publicly available profiles, but thought
I'd pass this info on, and hear from you about your experiences and
interest.
-- Owen
PS: There is a "labeling" policy starting to be developed which will have a
simbol (like the recycling or toxic waste one, very easy to identify) which
will let you "trace route" the add, finding out how they targeted you, and
what the profile looks like so you can opt out.
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
