CHAPTER 8: COMPARISONS – PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIVITY
into third party websites, allowing Facebook to collect information about users’
visits to these third sites.22
(b) Header enrichment refers to the process of injecting a number into a HTTP
header each time a user visits a website.
(c) Fingerprinting techniques collect different pieces of information relating to a
device or browser to enable identification.
Deep-linking
8.80.
Approximately 90% of the time spent using mobile devices is spent in apps.23 Apps
do not follow the structure of the web and so the usual tracking methods are not
available. Deep-linking allows app developers to link to pages in apps and so
replicate the structure of the web and enable tracking.
Social plug-ins
8.81.
Social plug-ins facilitate the sharing of third party content within online social
networks. Examples include Facebook’s “like” button, Google+’s “+1” and Twitter’s
“tweet” button. When a person visits a third party webpage in which a plug-in is
embedded the domain of the plug-in provider may receive certain information
automatically. This is examined in more detail at 8.100 below.
Adware
8.82.
Adware is used to describe software which is embedded with advertisements. It is
commonly used to allow users to have access to software without having to pay for
it. However, adware software may also track web browsing habits in order to facilitate
targeted advertising by third parties. This practice is a form of spyware.
Location Tracking
8.83.
“Passive location tracking”,24 (when an application collects location data even when
it is not in use), is increasingly common: the Angry Birds app provides it. A further
trend is the growing use of location-tracking to enable targeted advertising. In 2014,
Facebook launched Local Awareness ads.
Advertisers can target their
advertisements to users who are near their business.25
Protections
8.84.
There have been three core strategies used to combat private companies’ collection
and use of data and to ensure privacy online: individual notice and consent, opting
22
See Facebook’s Data Policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info-onother#instantpersonal.
“Getting to Know you”, The Economist, 13 September 2014.
“Location-tracking: 6 Social App settings to check”, Information Week, 26 August 2014.
See https://www.facebook.com/business/a/local-awareness.
23
24
25
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