On the last ABC radio spot we looked at how our data is being tracked, in the following 702 Sydney program with Linda Mottram we looked at the role of Internet cookies and online privacy.
Cookies – tiny text files that store visitors’ details on websites – have long been the mainstay of online commerce as they track the behaviour of web surfers.
For media companies, Cookies have become a key way of identifying and understanding their readers making these web tracking tools an essential part of an already revenue challenged online news model.
Cookies also present security and privacy risks as, like all Big Data, the information held within them can be cross-referenced with other sources to create a picture of and often identify an internet users.
These online data crumbs often follow us around the web as advertising platforms and other services, particularly social media sites, monitor our behaviour and the European Union’s Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications is the first step by regulators to crack down on the use of cookies.
Similar moves are afoot in the US as regulators start to formulate rules around the use of Cookies, in an Australian context, the National Privacy Principles apply however they are of limited protection as most cookies are not considered to be ‘identifiable data’, the same get out used by US government agencies to monitor citizens’ communications.
Generally these rules promise to be so cumbersome for online services Google is looking at getting rid of cookies altogether .
Ditching cookies gives Google a great deal of power with its existing ways of tracking users and ties into Eric Scmidt’s stated aim of making the company’s Google Plus service an identity service that verifies we are who we say we are online.
Whether Google does succeed in becoming the web’s definitive identity service remains to be seen, we are though in a time where the questions of what is acceptable in tracking our online behaviour are being examined.
For the media companies and advertising, putting the control of online analytics in the hands of one or two companies may also add another level of middle man in a market where margins are already thin if not non-existent.
It may well be that we look back on the time when we were worried about internet cookies tracking us as being a more innocent time.
Hi Paul, I listened to your interview with Linda Mottram yesterday (even though I am in Coffs Harbour) on cookies etc. I use an add-in to my Firefox browser called Ghostery (also available on IE) which has cut down significantly the amount of spam I receive amongst other things. I had to laugh yesterday because @ 2.15pm, I tried to watch “Homeland” Season 3, Ep being streamed live from the USA on their re-jigged & relaunched website called TenPlay. TenPlay had 26 tracking cookies which were being blocked by Ghostery. To get the stream to work, I had to temporary unblock the trackers to view a fairly 2nd rate stream, nowhere near the quality of ABC’s iView. At first I only had audio, then had to toggle fullscreen to receive low-resolution and patchy video. My internet connection is via th e NBN at 50/20mbps speeds. Both ethernet and wireless-n connctions were the same. So my hardware and broadband internet connection were not an issue. Cheekily, I sent them (TEN) feedback to say that it was a waste of time & resources and I had a better result via a VPN setup, no tracking cookies, and far better audio & video resolution.
Our commercial FTA TV networks still have a long way to go and considering they are not taking the viewing public seriously, and I wonder if they ever will. Probably too late if they ever will. By the way, for programmes I really like, even though I view them through streaming, I still purchase a significant number of DVDs and Blu-rays, even for content I download, even before they have been shown in Australia. No ads, better quality audio/video, extras, and I can watch them anytime I like. I guess the game changer for me was the innovative drama “Person of Interest” which the Nine Network just stopped and started whatever time it suited them, regardless of their scheduled times in the over-the-air EPG, and also across their supplementary channels. One week they would have a new episode, the next it might be a repeat, but it was all over the place. It must be a strategy that works for them because I never watch the Nine Network anymore.
Cheers,
Bruce
P.S. I love the quality of advice you provide. You communicate concepts quite clearly for the benefit of newbies and experienced users alike 🙂
Hi Paul
Any chance you post an entry before you do a radio spot so fans of your insights, not in the radio catchment can listen on line.