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Language: en

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Suppose you're shopping online for shoes.

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Then, you decide to check a health site and you see an ad

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for shoes. You switch over to YouTube to watch a hilarious kitten video, but

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first you have to watch a shoe ad.

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Later, you open the Facebook app on your phone.

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And guess what? Sponsored post about a shoe sale!

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How do all of these sites know that you're shopping for shoes?

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Well, websites use various methods to track your browsing habits.

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Each site may only gather a little bit of information, but

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together, it forms a sort of digital profile

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that advertisers can use to learn all kinds of things about you.

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An advertiser can plant a small file on your computer called a tracking cookie,

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which they can use to identify you the next time

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you visit one of the sites they advertise on.

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They can also get a pretty good idea of which

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devices you use based on your social media and email accounts.

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Or by using a technique called, "probabilistic matching", which makes educated

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guesses about which devices belong to the same person.

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So one way or another, all of your devices are connected to you.

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And that means companies can send you targeted ads

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no matter which device you're using.

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This does raise some privacy concerns since the

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information is collected without your knowledge.

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And there is a fear about how this information could possibly be used.

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For instance,

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could an insurance company deny coverage

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based on your browsing history?

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You can steps to limit the amount of data collected,

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such as blocking tracking cookies in your browser settings,

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but with the current sophistication of tracking,

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they're pretty easy to get around.

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However, there are potential upsides to all this data being collected.

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It allows sites to recommend articles and videos based on your interests.

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And help search engines more quickly find the results you're looking for.

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As the technology continues to advance,

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sites will find new ways to tailor the content to better meet your needs.

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It's hard to say exactly where this will lead, but for better or worse,

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digital tracking is part of the modern online reality.

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Goodwill Community Foundation--Creating Opportunities for a Better Life