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Web Giants Threaten End to Cookie Tracking
Wall Street Journal ^ | Oct. 28, 2013 | ELIZABETH DWOSKIN

Posted on 10/29/2013 6:59:33 AM PDT by Second Amendment First

The end could be near for cookies, the tiny pieces of code that marketers deploy on Web browsers to track people's online movements, serve targeted advertising and amass valuable user profiles.

The moves could radically shift the balance of power in the $120 billion global digital advertising industry—and have ad technology companies scrambling to figure out their next play.

*

On Wednesday, Microsoft quietly announced in a blog post that the company will give marketers the ability to track and advertise to people who use apps on its Windows 8 and 8.1 operating system on tablets and PCs. The company will do this by assigning each user a number—a unique identifier—that monitors them across all of their apps. (The system doesn't block cookies in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser.) Industry players think Microsoft-powered smartphones and Xbox game consoles will be a natural extension of the system, but Microsoft kept mum on the question.

Microsoft could then use its access to consumers to broker advertising to people or sell data about users as part of demographic categories, such as avid game players under 40 who also check sports apps. Earlier this year, Apple also began offering advertisers the ability to trail and target users through a unique ID on smartphones and tablets.

Google's plans, which the company disclosed in only the broadest of terms last month, would also make use of a unique ID. But the tracking could be far-reaching, say industry experts. Google's system could tie together data about users across all the company's products—Gmail, the Chrome browser and Android phones. In a statement about its efforts, the company said "technological enhancements" like an identifier could improve security "while ensuring the Web remains economically viable."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cookies; internet; privacyrights; tracking
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I'm sure the Stasi will appreciate the identifier as well.
1 posted on 10/29/2013 6:59:33 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
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To: Second Amendment First; rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; Salo; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; ...

2 posted on 10/29/2013 7:01:17 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Second Amendment First

Windows 8 will never boot on any machine in my home. Nor will there ever be one of the new xBoxes.


3 posted on 10/29/2013 7:03:14 AM PDT by ThunderSleeps (Stop obarma now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: Second Amendment First

You mean Google, Yahoo, et al could finally revert back to what the hell they are really worth? Jack Squat.


4 posted on 10/29/2013 7:03:54 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Second Amendment First
I'm sure the Stasi will appreciate the identifier as well.

I wouldn't doubt that they ordered it.

5 posted on 10/29/2013 7:04:18 AM PDT by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: FRiends

healthcare.gov uses the latest technology.



Click the Pic


Support Free Republic

6 posted on 10/29/2013 7:07:37 AM PDT by deoetdoctrinae (Gun-free zones are playgrounds for felons.)
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To: Second Amendment First

In Firefox, I run

DoNotTrackMe
https://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php

Disconnect.me
https://disconnect.me/

Ghostery
https://www.ghostery.com/

They each do similar blocking of tracking cookies, but they each seem to have unique features/blocking.


7 posted on 10/29/2013 7:08:37 AM PDT by TomGuy (.)
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To: Second Amendment First; COUNTrecount; Nowhere Man; FightThePower!; C. Edmund Wright; jacob allen; ..

Windows 8 WARNING!

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

8 posted on 10/29/2013 7:10:07 AM PDT by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: Second Amendment First

My Gmail account keeps asking for my phone number to improve “security”. I’ve toyed with attaching all my google accounts to a trakfone. No way I’ll EVER tie them to my real phone.


9 posted on 10/29/2013 7:16:04 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: null and void

Looks like I will be permanently signing off all of the major websites.


10 posted on 10/29/2013 7:16:46 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: Second Amendment First
No cookies for you


11 posted on 10/29/2013 7:17:58 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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To: Lazamataz

Or just don’t use Win 8.


12 posted on 10/29/2013 7:19:37 AM PDT by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: null and void

I am officially done with Facebook, as of now. That’s my start.


13 posted on 10/29/2013 7:20:41 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: sauropod

.


14 posted on 10/29/2013 7:21:32 AM PDT by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
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To: Lazamataz

What’s a Facebook?


15 posted on 10/29/2013 7:30:21 AM PDT by Tenacious 1 (Waiting for next tagline.)
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To: Second Amendment First

MAJOR Corporations have already written employees, saying THEY WILL NOT BE DEPLOYING WINDOWS 8!!!

The unstated reason is CYBER-SECURITY.


16 posted on 10/29/2013 7:34:11 AM PDT by G Larry (Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalms 109:8)
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To: Second Amendment First
Aren't they already doing that? The ads I get are definitely a response to things I've researched. It's kind of creepy how stuff I've considered purchasing keeps following me.

The exception to that seems to be Amazon. The stuff I look up on Amazon only follows me on Amazon and in emails from them.

17 posted on 10/29/2013 7:37:06 AM PDT by grania
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To: TomGuy

use

https://www.ixquick.com/

search engine instead of google


18 posted on 10/29/2013 7:38:49 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Tenacious 1

19 posted on 10/29/2013 7:39:19 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: cuban leaf

I always ignore that


20 posted on 10/29/2013 7:39:25 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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