How are you protecting your privacy on the Web?

Surfing online from the privacy of your home might give the illusion of confidentiality, but in reality search engines like AOL, Yahoo, and Google are tracking every move you make in cyberspace. In fact, even Internet service providers have begun using technologies that track their subscribers' online activities.

Targeting online behavior

This practice, known as behavioral targeting, is a method marketers use to show you online ads, content, or products based on your browsing habits and shopping history. Tracking your recent Internet activity allows search engines to assemble a profile of you that they can sell or share with other advertisers.

Advocates of behavioral targeting defend the practice by pointing out that the data stored about users is anonymous since most advertisers do not attach names or other identifying information to their profiles. They also maintain that given the huge amount of information in cyberspace, tracking your surfing habits helps deliver information and products that are more likely to be relevant to you.

But the U.S. Federal Trade Commission begs to differ.

“I am concerned…when my online conduct is monitored across several Web sites…and there's no effective notice or consent to these practices,” said Commissioner Jon Leibowitz at an FTC forum on behavioral targeting held in Washington D.C. in November 2007.

Concerns about online privacy extend beyond the U.S. as well.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Union is planning to bring its regulatory power to bear on online behavioral targeting practices. The EU’s move came after thousands of Facebook users signed a petition protesting against the social networking site's new practice of alerting members of friends' purchases online.

One of the problems with behavioral targeting is that as thousands of sites constantly share and compare information about users; an anonymous user on one site can easily become a known user on another site.

“I think all of us should be concerned, even troubled, that seemingly anonymous searching and surfing can be traced back to individuals, specific individuals, and that not all information that companies have collected about us is secure from data breaches,” said commissioner Leibowitz.

Shielding your browsing habits

So what can you do to minimize the snooping and protect your privacy?

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) recommends the following practices to shield your Web surfing habits from the prying eyes of marketers:

• Clear your cache. Your browsing record is a personal privacy liability, particularly if you share a computer or browse at work. To protect your privacy, clear your browser’s temporary Internet files/clear your history after each browsing session.
• Reject unnecessary cookies. Some cookies are used to track your browsing history for marketing purposes. Configure your Web browser to prompt you every time a site tries to send a cookie. This allows you to reject cookies from Web sites you wish to browse anonymously. Usually, cookie configuration is located in the “privacy” or “security” section of your browser's Internet options or preferences.
• Use anonymizers. Anonymizing software makes your Internet activity untraceable by masking your IP address (a unique number which identifies your specific computer on the Web) and hiding any personal information.
• Hide your email address. Anonymous remailers are free computer services that allow you to send messages without revealing your name or email address.
• Look for privacy policies. When registering or doing business with a Web site, review its privacy policy to see how it will use your information. Never do business with any site that doesn't have a clearly stated privacy policy.

Following its two-day forum on online privacy and advertising, the FTC has proposed a set of principles designed to make the advertising industry create more stringent self-regulation and inform consumers more fully that their online behavior is being tracked. In addition, AOL recently announced its plans to launch a service that will allow users to sign up for a do-not-track-list that will help hide their surfing patterns from advertisers.

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