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Intrusive consumer-tracking technologies
Are you aware of how large the site tracking industry is growing? WSJ reports about intrusive consumer-tracking technologies:
The 50 [sample] sites installed a total of 3,180 tracking files on a test computer used to conduct the study. Only one site, the encyclopedia Wikipedia.org, installed none. Twelve sites, including IAC/InterActive Corp.’s Dictionary.com, Comcast Corp.’s Comcast.net and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN.com, installed more than 100 tracking tools apiece in the course of the Journal’s test.
The companies that placed the most tracking tools were Google Inc., Microsoft. and Quantcast Corp.
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Some of our web clients need analytical visitor tracking tools, which are not used to build consumer profiles but rather to determine content popularity and effectiveness of Adword Campaigns and referral sources. They have not joined networks like Quantcast to track all of your activities across other websites.