Over the past couple of years, Facebook has become increasingly popular, until it seemed like everyone and their grandma was joining up. A new feature, called Facebook Beacon, lets corporations join the fray. Might this be cause for concern?
posted on Nov 19, 2007 - View this thread

AT&T Ducks Accountability. Lawsuits, Questions Follow NSA Surveillance Approval.
posted on Jan 21, 2007 - View this thread

A Marketing and Promotional Urinal Screen - I mean - WTF? Is there nowhere I can go and not be bombarded by advertising...now when I go for a 'slash' I can be detected 'visiting' the urinal, and a pre-recorded voice can 'interact' with me while I read the graphics. Honestly, I never, ever, ever wanted to interact whilst standing at a urinal...please don't make me start interacting in there!
posted on Nov 11, 2004 - View this thread

Reason magazine uses individualized data to give its subscribers a '1984'-style surprise. The idea surfaced a year ago at a cocktail party: What if you opened your mailbox to find a national magazine with your name on the cover and the headline "They Know Where You Live!" — under an aerial photo of your house? And what if, when you turned the page, the editor's note and the advertisements included details about your neighbors? (LA Times/Reg. Rqd)
posted on May 20, 2004 - View this thread

TiVo to Sell User Viewing Data TiVo executives said they will be gathering information only in aggregate, such as by ZIP code and that the habits of individual users will remain anonymous. However, not everyone agrees that TiVo can't/isn't tracking individual viewing habits. And now advertisers will be able to see exactly how many commercials we're all zipping past.
posted on Jun 2, 2003 - View this thread

Yahoo has quietly changed its privacy policy. Accountholders are now subscribed to lots of newsletters plus junk mail and telemarketing. You can change your preferences and send Yahoo some feedback. You can't prevent them from subscribing you to new products without closing your account. Will going to an opt-out system help or hurt their bottom line? Will there be a backlash?
posted on Mar 30, 2002 - View this thread

How willing are you to whore yourself? City buses have been doing it for years. Now an ad company is willing to give you a free car for two years if you're willing to drive a mobile billboard for them. Ideal candidates live in busy urban and suburban areas, park on the street, and get stuck in traffic all the time. You pay for insurance and gas, and they take care of the rest (including maintenance). Or have your current car wrapped with advertisements and get up to $400 a month. The company will also entice you with free concert tickets if you'll drive the vehicle to the show.

Through a long application process, they try to match ideal candidates with advertisers. They even let you suggest 5 companies you'd be willing to whore yourself for. But if you do decide to sign up, be aware: Not only are there 70,000 + applications ahead of you, and no guarantee that you'll be selected, according to the privacy policy, the ad company will use your detailed profile to sell more stuff to you.
posted on Jan 15, 2002 - View this thread

Unknowingly sending all your personal finance information through the servers of a sleazy ad service: Priceless. Do you pay your AMEX bill online at americanexpress.com? If you do, you should know that you're being ported through the ad.doubleclick.net advertising service. Mouse over the links on the AMEX homepage and see. All your information travels through doubleclick's servers on its way to AMEX. Nice, huh?
posted on Nov 26, 2001 - View this thread

FTC ends investigation of DoubleClick and finds no evidence of wrongdoing. I don't know about you, but I feel cheated. Don't forget to opt out of their cookie-bending racket.
posted on Jan 23, 2001 - View this thread

I'll believe this when DoubleClick changes their darn policy. Sure, they've also recently said they'll postpone their new identifying database. How about to "never"?
posted on Mar 8, 2000 - View this thread

Net advertising behemoth DoubleClick has been quietly buying up marketing databases to allow it to match up your DoubleClick cookie with your name and address. Time to opt out.
posted on Jan 25, 2000 - View this thread