Yahoo and MSN probably track about as much as Google does, so they should also be included.
Especially, since they aloffer many free Web services that require sign-ins.
Additionally, their Search Engines uses Click tracking to evaluate which search results are clicked on for queries - and the server logs are kept for months
James Mowery
· 2 years ago
Very true.
Ivan
· 2 years ago
Or you could become a Social Hermit. "Apart we are together". But I can't ask you to join. I'll be in my cave theorising Social Hermitage.
Bastian
· 2 years ago
Hi,
i think Weblin (www.weblin.com) should be mentioned here as well. Innovative German startup. I very much like it.
regards,
Bastian
Lia
· 2 years ago
With all these things I wonder what effects they can have. E.g., if you use wakoopa.com, i can imagine that you could get in big big trouble if you use illegal software. And: everyone - including your employer - can see what you are doing during the day. Fairly dangerous if you ask me.
James Mowery
· 2 years ago
Now why would you be using illegal software? ;)
Regardless, yes, it can be very dangerous to use these applications on a work computer and I'd never recommend it.
Matt
· 2 years ago
Only dangerous if you are doing stuff at work that you're not supposed to be... Now, who would do such a thing? ;)
www.hitwise.com is the biggest one on the planet. uses squid logs to track everyones web surfing. Not much anyone can do about it.
Steve Falcon
· 2 years ago
YouMob is a cool one and not just a universal tracker. With YouMob you don't need a download. When you go to the YouMob site, you can "mob" any page. Anyone joining the mob can comment live with others there, show how they feel, and invite others.
Mobs are listed in order of most "mobbers", so you can find where the action is. The system can handle tons of people in a mob so you can have big rallies or protests with it. But you can also just hang out and chat with friends or strangers on any site.
You can click on a member in YouMob and follow them to wherever they're "mobbing". But someone can also put follow-me beacons anywhere on the web. The beacons blink when their owners are in a mob. Clicking one takes you right to them. No script, no flash. Neat.
You can also get automatic email when a friend starts a new mob, so you can jump in if it seems interesting. Or maybe you make it interesting.
If you're a blogger or website you get free banner advertising by putting partner beacons on your site. The beacons can point to any mob, whether yours or some cause you support. Every time someone clicks through, your ad gets a bigger slice of the airtime on YouMob.com. And the banner location is prime.
Most people don't want to be tracked wherever they go. With YouMob, sharing your location is under your control. You can promote places on the web, chat and make friends, and share where you are with fans and strangers alike.
Here's the correct link for this very page mobbed with YouMob.
Andy
· 2 years ago
One thing about last.fm that wasn't mentioned, was that after you've subscribed to them, you have the ability to see which of your friends have been spying on your page, something that no other 'stalker' website I use seems to incorporate.
Interesting topic though, a good read James :)
Dell
· 2 years ago
Never knew all of these services actually existed and most of them turn out to be pretty useful. Thanks much for this list
heiko hebig
· 2 years ago
With iLike [ilike.com] you can share your iTunes library info and find users that have a similar taste in music: "Share music libraries with your friends, browse and sample their most played songs, and compare your compatibility scores."
hasl von
· 2 years ago
What about DIGG? Digg.com is a social news website(through which many people found this article) that bases much of it's development on voyeristic and anti-privacy features, linking all comments made and stories dug by an individually registered user to their user-name, which is in turn linked to that users personal information, real-name, e-mail, and the ip address of the computer they are using. In addition to promoting the ease and variety of ways that this information can be accessed(including in real-time). If any authoritarian institution were looking for an easy way to obtain personal and psychological profiles for a large number of people Digg is the place to go.
Google history is listed in the above article, but i think another of their features that deserves special mention for anti-privacy concerns would be "google street view".
It's suprising that so very few are concerned with loss of privacy
Jeffro2pt0
· 2 years ago
Hello James. After reading Nick's article on Valleywag and then re-reading your article, I had to post my thoughts about this situation which I have published to my own site.
I don't understand why so many users have switched from wanting to remain anonymous to broadcasting their entire computing life to the web. I realize this is voluntary, but I feel that at some point in time, all of this broadcasting is going to bite people in the rear due to identity theft. The more information that a thieve can gain against a particular individual the better, at least in their eyes.
I just don't seem to understand the logic of broadcasting all of this information to the web.
vaspers the grate
· 2 years ago
Plazes and other location-based status updates seems like a parent's worst nightmare, a predator's dream come true.
Lemmings lining up for surveillance. Identity thieves lurking in the wings.
Nerdoholic
· 2 years ago
There's also another one called FoxiFly which I came across on Killer Startups. It seems to do most of the things above, including the stalking aspect! lol I used it briefly and it did seem pretty fun with some useful tools too. Not many people on it at the moment though, looks like its just launched. http://www.foxifly.com if you dont mind being stalked. I still cant understand why so many people seem into these types of sites though, not really my cup of tea, but hey, whatever floats your boat I guess.
nancy
· 1 year ago
wow that sucks that I've been tracked all this time on youtube! thanks for the list at least now I can decide whether I want to avoid some of them. Good to know little sites like my free-credit-reports-annual.com won't compromise users' identity with strangers! =)
Mike
· 4 months ago
Well to be honest, I dont like it when people try to track your every move. Mike - warm winter coats consultant.
All Comments
Especially, since they aloffer many free Web services that require sign-ins.
Additionally, their Search Engines uses Click tracking to evaluate which search results are clicked on for queries - and the server logs are kept for months
i think Weblin (www.weblin.com) should be mentioned here as well. Innovative German startup. I very much like it.
regards,
Bastian
Regardless, yes, it can be very dangerous to use these applications on a work computer and I'd never recommend it.
Mobs are listed in order of most "mobbers", so you can find where the action is. The system can handle tons of people in a mob so you can have big rallies or protests with it. But you can also just hang out and chat with friends or strangers on any site.
You can click on a member in YouMob and follow them to wherever they're "mobbing". But someone can also put follow-me beacons anywhere on the web. The beacons blink when their owners are in a mob. Clicking one takes you right to them. No script, no flash. Neat.
You can also get automatic email when a friend starts a new mob, so you can jump in if it seems interesting. Or maybe you make it interesting.
If you're a blogger or website you get free banner advertising by putting partner beacons on your site. The beacons can point to any mob, whether yours or some cause you support. Every time someone clicks through, your ad gets a bigger slice of the airtime on YouMob.com. And the banner location is prime.
Most people don't want to be tracked wherever they go. With YouMob, sharing your location is under your control. You can promote places on the web, chat and make friends, and share where you are with fans and strangers alike.
To demonstrate, this page is mobbed.
Pretty cool, and I'm fairly partial.
Interesting topic though, a good read James :)
Google history is listed in the above article, but i think another of their features that deserves special mention for anti-privacy concerns would be "google street view".
It's suprising that so very few are concerned with loss of privacy
I don't understand why so many users have switched from wanting to remain anonymous to broadcasting their entire computing life to the web. I realize this is voluntary, but I feel that at some point in time, all of this broadcasting is going to bite people in the rear due to identity theft. The more information that a thieve can gain against a particular individual the better, at least in their eyes.
I just don't seem to understand the logic of broadcasting all of this information to the web.
Lemmings lining up for surveillance. Identity thieves lurking in the wings.
Mike - warm winter coats consultant.