When you surf the Internet, advertisers and marketers are likely using Web cookies to track your online habits -- what you buy, what Web sites you visit and how often -- in order to target their ads to you. If you're searching reviews of a specific movie or car, for example, you may later see an ad for that movie or car even when you've moved on to a completely unrelated site.
It's called behavioral advertising, and consumer advocacy groups are pushing for a way to opt out of it. A coalition of nine groups today proposed a "Do Not Track" list for users who don't want to be tracked online. The coalition asked the Federal Trade Commission to require advertisers to register all domain names of the servers that set "persistent unique identifier." Consumers could then download that list and block them. For the group's full proposal, click here.
Stopbadware.org challenged folks with a $5,000 prize to come up with 2-minute videos to explain Web cookies and explore their privacy implications. Here's one that made the cut. For all five, go here.
The winner will be announced Thursday, when the FTC's workshop on Ehaviorial Advertising begins in Washington, D.C.
Web cookies are plain text files that are transferred from the server to your browser and get stored on your computer's hard drive. Aside from tracking how often you visit certain sites, cookies allow Web sites to remember your log in or items you place in a shopping cart. ZDNet's Larry Dignan says there's nothing to worry about, including that cookies are "anonymous."
One easy way to protect yourself is to delete your cookies, run an anti-spyware program that deletes tracking programs or set up your browser to not permit them in the first place. For more on how to disable cookies, click on this useful site.
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