Social and Web Computing

Gareth Tyson

WEEK 9:
ONLINE PRIVACY
Adverts make the Internet go round!
Ad players
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Ad players
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Ad players
Content
Provider
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Ad players I get to make money
from my website!
Content
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Ad players I get to make money
marketers without
having to build any
websites! Content
Provider
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Ad players I make lots of profit
because people see
my adverts!
Content
Provider
Marketer
Ad Broker
Learning Objectives
1. Understand what online privacy is

2. Understand how it is being undermined on a daily

basis

3. Understand the technologies that enable this

What is privacy?
“…Respect for the autonomy of individuals, and limits
on the power of both state and private organisations
to intrude on that autonomy...”

– Australian Privacy Charter

What is privacy?

“The right to be let alone”

– Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

What is privacy?
● Data privacy ● Bodily privacy
○ collection of personal ○ drugs testing
information ○ strip searches
○ control over the use of ○ cavity searches
personal data ● Territorial privacy
○ access to personal files ○ search warrants of the
● Communications Privacy home
○ telephone interception ○ trespass
○ mail interception ○ electronic sensor
○ internet surveillance surveillance
What is privacy?
● Data privacy ● Bodily privacy
○ collection of personal ○ drugs testing
information ○ strip searches
○ control over the use of ○ cavity searches
personal data ● Territorial privacy
○ access to personal files ○ search warrants of the
● Communications Privacy home
○ telephone interception ○ trespass
○ mail interception ○ electronic sensor
○ internet surveillance surveillance
What is privacy?
● Data privacy ● What is personal data?
○ collection of personal ○ Data generated by the
information individual (you!)
○ control over the use of ○ OR data generated about
personal data the individual
○ access to personal files ● You have a right to your own
● Communications Privacy personal data
○ telephone interception
○ mail interception
○ internet surveillance
Bob’s digital footprint

Bob’s doesn’t use the Internet, so it

should be small...
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
Bob’s digital footprint
What is privacy?
What is privacy?
What is privacy?
What is privacy?
What is privacy?
● Data privacy ● What good things could be
○ collection of personal
information
○ control over the use of
personal data
○ access to personal files
● Communications Privacy
○ telephone interception
○ mail interception
○ internet surveillance
done with personal data?
○ Could personalise a website
for you
○ Could help you find the
perfect gift
○ Could make you money!
○ Could cure you of a disease
○ Could find family members
What is privacy?
● Data privacy ● What bad things could be done
○ collection of personal
information
○ control over the use of
personal data
○ access to personal files
● Communications Privacy
○ telephone interception
○ mail interception
○ internet surveillance
with personal data?
○ People could discover
sensitive information
■ Could put your
insurance up!
■ Fancy being
blackmailed?
○ Could result in prosecutions
Online privacy isn’t a new thing...

“[A]n individual must increasingly give information about

himself to large and relatively faceless institutions, for
handling and use by strangers - unknown, unseen, and, all
too frequently, unresponsive. Sometimes the individual
does not even know that an organization maintains a
record about him. Often he may not see it, much less
contest its accuracy, control its dissemination, or challenge
its use by others.”
...but it is getting worse
You are being monitored
● Kimberley Swann, 16, was fired after three weeks as an admin assistant for writing
on Facebook about how bored she was with her job. Her status updates included:
'first day at work. omg!! So dull!!'
● Stephanie Bon was fired from her role as an HR assistant at Lloyds after posting a
comment about her boss earning more money than her. She wrote: 'New CEO gets
£4,000 an hour. I get £7. That’s fair.'
● Prison officer Nathan Singh, who worked at HMP Leicester, was sacked for gross
misconduct after becoming Facebook friends with current and previous inmates.
● Ashley Payne, a high school teacher from Georgia, was forced to resign after posting
pictures of herself drinking on the social networking site. The 24-year-old was told her
page 'promoted alcohol use' and 'contained profanity'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2115927/How-Facebook-cost-job-One-
applicants-rejected-bosses-check-profiles-social-media-sites.html
You are being monitored
Check your settings!

https://www.facebook.com/help/325807937506242/
But is that enough?
● Do you trust all your friends on Facebook?

● Do you know all your friends on Facebook?

● Do you trust your friends’ friends?

● Is your profile secure (e.g. safe password, no viruses)

● Are all your friends’ profiles secure?

But is that enough?
What else worries you?
What else worries you?
What else worries you?

http://www.truste.com/resources/#/Privacy_Research
https://econsultancy.com/reports/internet-statistics-compendium
“The Internet will transform advertising because of its
trackability”

Eric Schmidt, Executive

Chairman of Google
Do you have online privacy?
If you’re not paying, you’re the
product!

● Data is a valuable commodity

○ Adverts are just one use

● How much does Google know about you?

Do you have online privacy?
Do you have online privacy?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/09/04/myo
penid-to-shut-down/
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?

Censored Censored
Is it getting better?

Censored
Is it getting better?
Is it getting better?
Do you care?
Yes!

http://blog.newshunt.com/2013/09/27/permission-marketing-impact-on-application-install-rates/
Yes!
 No!

Many location-based
apps track you

http://blog.includesecurity.com/2014/02/how-i-was-able-to-track-location-of-any.html
Why do they bother?
Why do they bother?
Targeted ads
● Ever had a feeling you’re being watched?
○ ...you are!
Targeted ads
● Ever had a feeling you’re being watched?
○ ...you are!
● To target ads, a history is very helpful
○ Who are you?
● How can this be done?
User tracking
● You are followed around the Internet

● Companies collect data on you

○ How old are you?
○ What is your gender?
○ What are your interests?

● This is then sold...

Tracking cookies
● Cookies are small text files that a
client stores
● They retain information that is helpful
to a server
● Prevents the server from having to
store information about all clients
Tracking cookies

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
Tracking cookies

Ad
provided
by
Double
Click
Tracking cookies

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
Tracking cookies

www.pie.com

GET index.html

doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

Contains ad tag to
doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

GET ad tag

ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

Set-Cookie:

ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

Set-Cookie: id=abc123

ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

GET advert
ads.pepsi.com
How does it work?

www.pie.com

doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
 I’ll store the cookies and
How does it work?
send them back to the
website next time I visit
so the server can
personalise things for www.pie.com
me

doubleclick.net

ads.pepsi.com
Tracking cookies

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
Tracking cookies

Ad
provided
by
Double
Click
Tracking cookies

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
Tracking cookies

www.fish.com

GET index.html

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

Contains ad tag to
doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

GET ad tag
cookie: id=abc123

ads.cola.com
How does it work?
I know this guy!
He’s visited www.fish.com
pie.com before!

doubleclick.net

GET ad tag
cookie: id=abc123

ads.cola.com
How does it work?
I bet he’d love
some cola! www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

GET ad tag
cookie: id=abc123

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

Redirect to ads.cola.com

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

GET advert
ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
How does it work?

www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
How does it work?
Gareth likes
fish and pies! www.fish.com

doubleclick.net

ads.cola.com
Targeted ads
A targeted ad will try to find the "best match"
between a given user in a given context and a
suitable advertisement.
Targeted ads
● Age ● Hosting website
● Gender ● Topic
● Education level ● Timing
● Income ● Keywords
● Interests
Targeted ads
● User history
○ Search history, Facebook info, past ads
● Device
○ Apple Mac, mobile phone
● Operating System/Browser
● Location
○ Country, city
Targeted ads: AppNexus
● According to AppNexus, they track:
○ What adverts the browser has seen
○ What page the browser was on when they saw the
advert
○ When the browser saw the advert
○ Whether the advert has been clicked or not.
○ What type of pages the browser has visited (to build
up an idea of what content might be used)
○ IP Address (to infer location)
Third parties
Third parties

Take a look yourself and

download Ghostery!
Third parties

Also, check your

cookies!
How much are you worth to
Facebook?
Let’s ask Facebook
● Facebook made $64m from $1.59b (2013)
○ $0.5 per user per month revenue
○ $0.02 per user per month in profit

● Not that much!

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/this-is-how-much-facebook-made-per-user-
last-month-2-pennies/272708/
Let’s ask Facebook

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-NJ5DZ/3139755452x0x746532/5c43ca27-de18-
437a-b304-841a2052b98a/FB_Q114EarningsSlides20140421.pdf
Let’s ask
● PrivacyFix computes estimate of your worth
from Facebook activity
● Most valuable US women: $37.98 annually
○ Women are worth 25% more than men
● Most valuable US men: $30.38 annually
● I’m worth $10

http://www.avg.com/us-en/privacyfix
http://adage.com/article/digital/worth-facebook-google/293042/
Let’s ask
● Google earns much more ad revenue per
user

● PrivacyFix says $223 for Google vs. $20.75

for Facebook
○ US woman

http://www.avg.com/us-en/privacyfix
http://adage.com/article/digital/worth-facebook-google/293042/
Do you know your own worth?
What do users think?
● Performed 2 surveys a day (2 mins each)

● 101 participants (1425 valuations)

● 3.23% indicated unwillingness to sell (price

>£500)
What do users think?
● WTP: What is the minimum amount that you would be
willing to pay to restrict others from accessing this
information?
● WTA: What is the minimum amount that somebody
would have to pay you to get access to this
information?.
● Open Price condition: Can write down any price in an
open text field.
What do users think?
What do users think?
People will
accept/expect quite
high prices
What do users think?
But you’re not
prepared to pay for
privacy!
What do users think?
Well, except for a few
of you
What do users think?
 What do users think?

But you’re not prepared

to pay for the privacy of
most data types!
 What do users think?

Even though you’re

expecting people to pay
you for them!
What do users think?

You’d pay to protect

household tasks
 What do users think?

Even though you’d

accept the most money
for personal interests
What do users think?
What do users think?

Women often value

privacy highly
But don’t just rely on the law...
● Think about how you mitigate the risks
○ Tor, clearing cookies, reading terms & conditions,
checking permissions, incognito mode!
● Think about how your can mitigate other
people’s risks
○ Do you really need their data?
○ How can you store, anonymise, protect it?
○ What is its lifecycle?
Learning Objectives
1. Understand what online privacy is

2. Understand how it is being undermined on a daily

basis

3. Understand the technologies that enable this