Ever since the early days of the Internet, technologies have been developed to track online behavior. Over time many of these have developed into what is commonly referred to as web analytics and now Marketing Sciences.

Some people believe this is a serious invasion of your privacy. Because you sit in the privacy of your home to surf the Web, there’s a belief that your activities should be completely private. In reality though, while you may be surfing in your underwear (ok, maybe that’s just me), people like me can “see” what you’re up to.

Here’s how it works, at a basic level. Most web pages have bits of code that are invisible to the average person. Between this code and cookies that get created and stored on your browser, back end systems are able to track a wide variety of actions that you may take on one or across multiple websites.

In order to explore this further, I’d like to separate out a couple of levels of privacy.

1. I.D. level privacy – Credit card information, phone numbers, your address etc. fall into this category. This is the kind of thing that I could commit identity theft with.
2. Preferences privacy – Data about stuff you like and perhaps have purchased in the past, but nothing I could stalk you with. You like cookies and organic gardening, but I have no idea “who” you are unless you sign in and tell me specifically.
3. Browsing privacy – Data about how you moved around in a website and what you looked at.  You downloaded three recipe cards on supertastycookies.com. “You” are totally anonymous.

Legitimate web analytics and advertising tracking operate mostly in level three (browsing) and sometimes in level two (preferences), but never in level one (I.D. level). (To be clear, level one is and should always be off limits to the realms of web analytics and Marketing Science.)

Why? For many reasons, but primarily to make your experience of the web better, easier, faster and more effective. The data can be used to optimize web sites as well as customize the content you might see so it better fits your personal preferences, and in so doing help companies achieve their business goals.

I will also point out that the data is also used to present you with advertising that you’re more likely to be interested in, and therefore more likely to click on hence making advertiser companies more money.

Privacy advocates would promote the idea of a complete cone of silence and that all three levels of privacy would be completely protected.  In this scenario, no data would be tracked (and I would be unemployed).  Think of this like walking around a very large city with a cloak of invisibility on. You can interact with the world, but no one can see you.

The reality is that when you walk around a big city, people can see you. They may not know who you are or where you live, but you’re not invisible.

If you go into a large department store, you’re being recorded on security cameras. Much like most web tracking systems, the camera doesn’t know who you are, where you live, or what your credit card number is, just that you were there. If someone is paying attention they might also know that you looked at handbags and shoes before you left.

How does this analogy translate online? Read More