The New York Times is claiming “web companies are learning more about people than ever from what they search for and do on the Internet, gathering clues about the tastes and preferences of a typical user several hundred times a month.” While Google ads might have been able to tell you this the last time you checked your Gmail, or looked at the ads to the left or on the bottom of this page it is “the first broad estimate of the amount of consumer data that is transmitted to Internet companies.” By ‘Internet Companies’ they mean anyone from the well known like Google and Wikipedia to the not so obvious like the McClatchy Corporation and Conde Nast Publications.While this isn’t new to the advertising world it is the first time this amount of data has been collected and released to the public. Nielsen has been keeping track of what TV shows people watch since 1950. While Nielsen has been setting the standard for broadcast revenue the data being collected by Internet companies can specifically target exactly what you are interested in. Not everyone watching ‘Sports Center’ wants Gatorade when they are working out but you can bet the person searching for cheap plane tickets to Paris might click an ad that says “fly to Paris and bring a friend for free.”

NY Times Internet Privacy Graph

Because this data collection is mostly behind the scenes there hasn’t been much mention of it, save for the time Facebookpublicized to member’s friends what purchases they had recently made, and little reason to stop. In fact the more a company knows about its users the better targeted the ads can become and the more they can charge to put them on their website. That’s a lot of extra money that Internet companies are looking to gain, especially when on average Yahoo! collects 811 points per person. Just think about the last 811 searches or fields you’ve entered data into, from web-searches, to your zip code, maybe even your age, race, and favorite food. That doesn’t even take into account if you’re into social networking on Facebook or Myspace. Most profiles on facebook have people list out what ads should be targeted to them in categories: “favorite movie”, “favorite book”, “hobbies”. Each time collecting a new piece of data to target you with. But, is this so bad? Who cares if Google knows you like rugby, and want to fly to Madrid for the summer? They gain a little money by targeting appropriate ads to you and as that same individual doesn’t have to be bombarded with tampon ads the way they do when they watch TV. It all depends on how comfortable you are with Internet companies knowing about you. If you wear your rugby jersey around town then maybe it doesn’t matter to you if Google knows that but, not everything in life is as public as the clothes on our backs.


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