By: Emilija Businskas

In a recent New York Times article, Adam Cohen refers to a 1993 New Yorker cartoon where a dog, sitting in front of his PC tells another dog “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

As we all know, the Internet doesn’t actually provide you with anonymity.  In fact, each one of us has our own “online personality” complete with a detailed history of what websites we’ve visited, ads we’ve clicked on and the items we’ve googled.

For years technology companies have been tracking these items by using “cookies”, tracking software on your computer that tells them about your online habits.  Now we’re seeing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) compiling this type of information as well.

So what are they doing with this information?  Recently there is a growing trend towards “behavioral targeting” when it comes to online advertising.  Basically, websites can charge a premium for ads if they can guarantee that they will appear before a specific target audience.  They monitor usage habits to determine the demographic of the audience by tracking information like age group, gender or geography – the possibilities are endless.  Once they have the information they compile it, determine the exact characteristics of the audience, and provide this information to advertisers looking to reach a specific group.

At first glance this seems like an effective strategy for selling ads, but is it also an invasion of privacy?  Is it ok for websites to sell our personal online history for profit?  Should they be able to report on all of our online habits or is some information off limits?  If so, where do you draw the line? 

Emilija Businskas is a Consultant in the Technology Communications Practice at H&K Toronto