The Article I chose to write about for the final blog post is titled “Facebook Tracking is Under Scrutiny,” and it discusses the controversial way in which Facebook tracks their users’ internet activity. Facebook has recently been involved in an ongoing debate with the Federal Trade Commission over the collection of data on Facebook users. When a user creates a Facebook account, the company automatically installs a browser cookie that tracks which sites users’ visit, for how long they view the site, and any other unique activity. Facebook is still able to track activity even when users are not logged in, and is even able to track non-Facebook users if a Facebook page is pulled up at any point during a browsing session. Facebook claims that this helps them regulate fake accounts and scams, and helps improve users’ displays by supplying content that actually interests them.
These practices implemented by Facebook, which are similar to that of other major sites including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others, have sparked a heated debate. Privacy advocates believe users should have an option to block corporations from tracking internet activity, while advertisers support the practice, for it allows them to learn more about consumers preferences, which allows them to target people more accurately, which in turn generates higher revenue.
In my opinion, I can understand why people would not want their browsing history sold to advertisers. People may not like the idea that others are able to gain insight into the way they spend their time online. However, I feel that in this day in age, the fact that the technology even exists makes in inevitable that corporations will sell browsing histories to advertisers. Advertisers are always looking to improve the ways in which they target consumers, and if they are willing to pay in large enough numbers, I don’t see why Facebook would have any desire to do away with this practice.
Also, in most cases I don’t feel that tracking browsing history for the purpose of ad targeting is such a bad thing. This might be different if it were the government or any organization were collecting browsing data and selling it to other individuals for the purpose of spying and finding out personal facts. In this case information is being sold to advertisers who have no interest in your business personally, only your business as a customer, and whom consumers will never have to encounter first hand. In my personal experience on Facebook, there have been many times that an ad has popped up on my page that I was genuinely interested in. I have found new online clothes shopping sites, and useful coupons. I have personally benefited from a substantial number of the ads that appear on my Facebook page, so for that reason, I am ok with Facebook selling my browsing history to advertisers.
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