Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Collusion Graphs Prior to and After Installing Preventative Measures

 The collusion graph with no data mining restrictions enabled. 


Prior to Add-ons

The collusion graph after enabling AdBlock Plus, Ghostery, DoNotTrack, and enabling do not track in Google Chrome settings.

After Add-ons
Number of Cookies: >100

Responses to the Tyrannical Retailer Article

1)
a. Target, and other companies', data grab is an invasion of privacy, which while not against the law is still
against some people's moral and ethical codes. 
b.These retailers manipulate the customer into buying items and 
spending more money than they normally would, which for the customer may be economically detrimental. 
c.Finally, these ads and personalizations often clutter up the computer screen and interfere with the user experience. 
i. The personalization may be seen as beneficial as it proposes numerous helpful items which the consumer may require or be looking for already.
ii. The data mining also encourages the consumer to buy more, which on a macro-economic scale may slightly augment the economy.
iii. The personalization reduces the amount of time one must spend on a specified website as the website has already collected and given you all the information you need

2)
1) Cleats
2) Shinguards
3) Adidas Sports bag
4) Soccer Ball
From these items a store could resonably deduce that the consumer is preparing to play soccer and thus it could suggest a nalgene water bottle, goal post, or discounted knee 
high socks.

3) It seems as though there are many applications and programs such a adblock and other privacy filters which may limit the amount of information a company is able to 
collect on you. Furthermore, paying in cash and reducing the amount of shopping completed online would significantly reduce a company's ability to track you.