Internet is a network of networks, connecting billions of people worldwide.
Since a few years, the growth of Internet usage has increased manifold mainly because of e-commerce and online shopping. Advertisements on the Internet has become the biggest source of income through the web.
What has all this got to do with you? Why should you be concerned about any of these?
With so many Internet users, comes petabytes of information. It is like the GPS that provides details of each action you do on Internet – the websites you surf, the things you buy online, the things you keep in your wish-list, the type of advertisements that you wait to see instead of skipping, everything.
The Internet Service Providers have this information stored in their servers since of course, they are the ones providing you with the Internet, hence the sessions need to be stored somewhere.
You must be clearing your history and cache, or using the private browser feature which you think erases your existence and makes you invisible once you close the browser.
Is your browser doing its job of keeping your browsing history safe?
You aren’t Sebastian Caine now because it never fades away.
Has it ever happened to you that you have searched some product on any e-commerce website and later when you surf the internet you find nearly related to your product’s advertisements? Maybe it’s a coincidence! Miracles happen. But this time it is a piece of bad news.
Advertisers have Thor’s hammer to break through your privacy and find out your trace in the Internet. Which means the things that you do on the Internet can be viewed by advertisers and based on that information, they will have leverage on your decisions.
Earlier the information was not allowed to be shared or sold to the third party. But now the cherry on the top is, it would all be done legally.
Since the Internet speaks it all about a person, the advertisers will be able to gather large and accurate insights on information about their targeted audience. This will bring a new source of revenue for the ISP’s and in return, the advertisers will receive the users’ browsing history information.
The first step has already been taken by FCC’s new Republican chairman Ajit Pai. The data security feature forced the ISP to protect the users’ data from theft and breach. ISP had to take consent from the user before selling their information to the third party. Now it’s time for ISPs to relax as Ajit Pai opposes the rules.
The advertisers are having their Thanksgiving food which is why they have started to favour the new rule. It is surprising to for them to hide their information to the public, and instead snatch away their details.
The leadership under Republicans is starting to put a question on consumers’ rights and the protection of their data. On one side, everything is censored, but the other side of the wall, everything’s open. Users’ sensitive information about health, family and personal life can be exposed to a threat if certain constraints aren’t put up.
It might fill the pockets of advertisers not only with handsome money but with sensitive information too!
Source: Arstechnica
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