Cross-device tracking: Difference between revisions

 

== Privacy and surveillance concerns ==

Cross-device tracking has [[Internet privacy|privacy]] implications and allows for more detailed tracking of users than traditional tracking methods. Data can be collected from multiple devices used by a single user and correlated to form a more accurate picture of the person being tracked.<ref name=ars/> Moreover, malicious actors may use variants of the technology to deanonymize anonymity network users.<ref>{{cite web|author = Vasilios Mavroudis|display-authors=et al|title = On the Privacy and Security of the Ultrasound Ecosystem|publisher=Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies|url=https://petsymposium.org/2017/papers/issue2/paper18-2017-2-source.pdf|format=PDF|website=ubeacsec.org|accessdate=30 November 2017}}</ref>

 

* Lastly, this new ultrasonic tracking poses a threat to users of Bitcoin and Tor because it ''[[De-anonymization|deanonymizes]]'' users’ information, since ultrasonic signals associate the user’s mobile phone with the [[Bitcoin]] or [[Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]] account.<ref name=":15" />

 

From cookies to ultrasonic trackers, some argue that invasive forms of surveillance underscore how users are trapped in a digital [[panopticon]], similar to the concept envisioned by [[Jeremy Bentham]]: a prison in which the prisoners were able to be seen at all times by guards but were unable to detect when, or even if, they were being watched at all, creating a sense of paranoia that drove prisoners to carefully police their own behavior.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Campbell|first=John Edward|last2=Carlson|first2=Matt|date=|title=Panopticon.com: Online Surveillance and the Commodification of Privacy|url=https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4604_6%E2%80%8B|journal=Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media|volume=46|issue=4|pages=586–606|doi=10.1207/s15506878jobem4604_6|issn=0883-8151|via=}}</ref> Similarly, scholars have drawn parallels between Bentham’s panopticon and today’s pervasive use of [[internet tracking]] in that individuals lack awareness to the vast disparities of power that exist between themselves and the corporation to which they willingly give their data.<ref name=":4" /> In essence, companies are able to gain access to consumers’ activity when they use a company’s services.<ref name=":4" /> The usage of these services often is beneficial, which is why users agree to exchange personal information.<ref name=":4" /> However, since users participate in this unequal environment, in which corporations hold most of the power and in which the user is obliged to accept the bad faith offers made by the corporations, users are operating in an environment that ultimately controls, shapes and molds them to think and behave in a certain way, depriving them of privacy.<ref name=":4" />

 

Scholars are beginning to discuss the possibility of quantifying the monetary value of users’ personal data. Notably, the algorithms used to extract and mine user data are increasingly seen as business assets and thus protected via trade secrets.<ref name=":17" /> Indeed, the usage of free online services, such as public Wi-Fi, often comes at the unknown cost to the user of being tracked and profiled by the company providing the service.<ref name=":17" /> In essence, a transaction is occurring: users’ personal data is being exchanged for access to a free service.<ref name=":17" /> Increasingly, scholars are advocating for users’ right to understand the fundamental value of their personal data more intimately so as to be more savvy, informed consumers who have the ability to protect the privacy of their online information and not be manipulated into unwittingly giving away personal information.<ref name=":17" />

 

In addition, health and wellness applications also have a dearth of privacy protections as well: a study found that many health apps lacked [[encryption]] and that regulators should enforce stronger [[Data privacy|data privacy protections]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Huckvale|first=Kit|last2=Prieto|first2=José Tomás|last3=Tilney|first3=Myra|last4=Benghozi|first4=Pierre-Jean|last5=Car|first5=Josip|date=2015-09-25|title=Unaddressed privacy risks in accredited health and wellness apps: a cross-sectional systematic assessment|url=http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0444-y|journal=BMC Medicine|volume=13|issue=1|doi=10.1186/s12916-015-0444-y}}</ref> The study stated that of the 79 apps they tested, none of the applications locally encrypted the users’ personal information and 89% of the applications pushed the data online.<ref name=":7" /> The lack of adequate privacy and security measures surrounding users’ personal medical data on mobile applications underscores the lessening degree to which users can trust mobile app developers to safeguard their personal information online.<ref name=":7" /> While mobile application developers continue to confront privacy and security concerns, users are increasingly looking to ways to visualize their data through wearable devices and applications that track their workout and exercise routines.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364917302819|title=ScienceDirect|website=www.sciencedirect.com|access-date=2019-04-04}}</ref> Indeed, researchers discovered that these self-tracking devices play a role as a tool, a toy, and a tutor in users’ lives.<ref name=":24">{{Cite journal|last=Lyall|first=Ben|last2=Robards|first2=Brady|date=2018-03-01|title=Tool, toy and tutor: Subjective experiences of digital self-tracking|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783317722854|journal=Journal of Sociology|language=en|volume=54|issue=1|pages=108–124|doi=10.1177/1440783317722854|issn=1440-7833}}</ref> In the tool role, the self-tracking device functions as a mechanism to help the user in some capacity, often to achieve personal health goals.<ref name=":24" /> The toy role underscores how some self-tracking users see it as a fun game, particularly with regard to rewards and viewing the visualized data.<ref name=":24" /> Lastly, the tutor role reflects how users gain insights from and motivation about their activity from the apps themselves.<ref name=":24" /> Other scholars have characterized self-tracking as performing for the system, or controlling what is (or isn’t) recorded, performing for the self, tracking themselves to gain insight into their behavior, and performing for other people, or the importance of how other people viewed the person being tracked, as well as the control the person being tracked had over their data and thus how they are perceived.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=Gross|first=Shad|last2=Bardzell|first2=Jeffrey|last3=Bardzell|first3=Shaowen|last4=Stallings|first4=Michael|date=2017-11-02|title=Persuasive Anxiety: Designing and Deploying Material and Formal Explorations of Personal Tracking Devices|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2017.1287570|journal=Human–Computer Interaction|volume=32|issue=5-6|pages=297–334|doi=10.1080/07370024.2017.1287570|issn=0737-0024}}</ref>

 

Additionally, privacy concerns surround cookies, flash cookies, and web beacons on websites today.<ref name=":10" /> Ultimately, five main concerns surround the usage of cookies, flash cookies, and web beacons, according to a study:<ref name=":112">{{Cite journal|last=Sipior|first=Janice C.|last2=Ward|first2=Burke T.|last3=Mendoza|first3=Ruben A.|date=2011-03-30|title=Online Privacy Concerns Associated with Cookies, Flash Cookies, and Web Beacons|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15332861.2011.558454|journal=Journal of Internet Commerce|volume=10|issue=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1080/15332861.2011.558454|issn=1533-2861}}</ref>