What is Digg?Sponsored by HowLifeWorks
How Smart Guys Keep Their Faces Looking Young view!
howlifeworks.com - Why men have finally started to use certain anti-aging skin care products...
81 Comments
- acrodev, on 11/04/2007, -2/+23And I'm sure most people don't realize their new cars can be disabled remotely via OnStar, or that their cable boxes have been watching their viewing habits. Let's not even discuss the fact that ATT diverts all internet traffic to a data analysis engine run by the NSA.
Anyone choosing to opt-out should probably get themselves a typewriter. - Ashkc88, on 11/05/2007, -0/+14I highly doubt that only 29 percent of America have an education of grade 12 or higher. That means that 71 percent of the US population are high school drop outs or never went to school. Seeing that it is rare that someone never went to school, I do not see less then 20% of teens drop out of school, let alone 71%.
Also, having an education of grade 12 and up doesn't necessarily mean you are bright... George Bush has an education of grade 12 and higher... - thefinger, on 11/04/2007, -0/+13"Every single move you make..." Yes... I feel a song coming on...... Every nudie pic, every link you click, every poll you take, every name you fake, they'll be watching you"
Oh and by the way, PC World has absolutely nothing to do with cookies. Nothing! - inobla, on 11/04/2007, -0/+11Mozilla Firefox + the Adblock Plus extension = up yours to the annoying, page lagging advertisements. I recommend the combo to everybody. As a bonus, the Noscript add-on and Peer Guardian 2 ip filtering software are great tools as well. All free.
- indiephoenix, on 11/05/2007, -0/+10However, "an" should be used in place of "a".
- Rahodeb, on 11/05/2007, -0/+8Not to mention, you might be a fantastic heart surgeon and still not have any idea about online tracking, because it's specific to computer technology. Why would anyone assume everyone would know the specifics about how your browsing habits are tracked?
- indiephoenix, on 11/04/2007, -0/+7Where did you get that statistic from?
- dannydowney, on 11/06/2007, -14/+21Makes me not surprised. studies this year show that only 29 percent of America has a education of grade 12 or higher.
So no wonder. If the other 71 percent are uneducated , they can't even understand what's really going on in their country: The fake war on terror and other ***** fed by their government, the internet and how that works is way over their head.
Don't worry: it's the same in Canada too...I don't know the stats of uneducated people here but we have tons and tons that are buying into the prime minister's ***** as well. Steve Harper and Bush = 2 Peas in the Pod! - BrainInAJar, on 11/04/2007, -0/+7or become intimately familiar with modern encryption and stenography techniques
- Zarokima, on 11/04/2007, -0/+6Hey, (note the comma before the noun of direct address) Clevelandsteemr! Since you are commenting on someone else's poor grammar (TO which you have no right, being an idiot yourself), here are some suggestions for your future corrections (note the colon):
Learn grammar before correcting someone else on it, stop being an arrogant jackass, and pick a name which doesn't imply such things as your enjoyment of people ***** on you. - GuacamoleSan, on 11/04/2007, -0/+6Wheres the nearest typewriter vendor
- Lunarbunny, on 11/04/2007, -0/+6Stenography or steganography? There is a difference.
- affanjam, on 11/04/2007, -0/+6Wow a PC World article thats on one page...
- OBKenobi, on 11/04/2007, -0/+6No, that's Geek Squad.
- MasterThief117, on 11/05/2007, -0/+6"...29 percent of America has a education..."
Can you spot the errors? - harmonix, on 11/06/2007, -1/+7Warning!!! I'm not objective!!!
I work as a freelance web analyst and consult with companies to show them how to use solutions to track their site. There is nothing sinister about this. NOTHING! I hear all these whiners saying that the new web bubble is going to bust any second. One of the things people are doing to try and make sure that it doesn't is this type of tracking. Not to "keep tabs" on you. Hell, they don't care about you as an individual. Trust me. They are looking at trends. What marketing works. How do people path through their site to make sure that you get what you came for as soon as possible. If anything, this kind of tracking makes the web a better place because developers and designers can learn more about how people use their site, and how they WANT to use it. Your IP address means nothing to them. But if you are a part of a group that never uses their navigation and goes straight to the internal search on their site, then they want to know why and how to help you.
If you really want a surprise, you should see the number of huge companies that have no idea what people are doing on their sites. - etruscan, on 11/04/2007, -2/+7Bzzzt, sorry... you lose.
- MasterChi, on 11/04/2007, -0/+5So did you get the shirt? Do we need to place another ad for you for 10% off for you to be convinced enough to get that shirt?
- OBKenobi, on 11/04/2007, -1/+5We need to take back the internet.
- AngryAmish, on 11/06/2007, -1/+4Think about the implications of this... Sellers are watching what you buy and view, trying to determine what your preferences are... and for what? To sell you goods you are interested in! What a terrible concept, we gotta stop these guys from taking over the internet! But really, whats the problem with companies trying to provide a better shopping experience for their customers? The Armani Exchange comment above me is the perfect example: joshmoney is interested in The Armani Exchange clothing line, he views their web page, and relevant ads giving him a discount appear on different web pages he views! Isn't that the perfect ad, for both the customer and the seller? He gets lower priced goods and sees ads for products he would like to buy, and sellers get to sell more to people who are interested!
I fail to see what is wrong with the current situation. Government big brother isn't going to come down on you because you view The Armani Exchange, and no one promises you privacy when surfing the web. Its not even a right on the internet. Those that are very uncomfortable with it can probably disable the cookies and use ad-blocking technology. The internet isn't the wild west anymore, people. - indiephoenix, on 11/04/2007, -0/+3Try these numbers instead: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y ...
At best, your 29% would be applicable to those with a Bachelor's degree or greater. Also, even if minors were included, they only made up slightly less than a quarter of the population when this was taken so even that wouldn't be enough to skew figures anywhere near what you mentioned.
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y ... - windmillninja, on 11/04/2007, -0/+3Somehow I don't equivocate copious bouts of laughter in the streets when I think of the LA Riots.
- ubergeek09, on 11/05/2007, -0/+3This is just sad, people are so ignorant about computers, as a computer geek I see this daily..
- SiNN4R, on 11/05/2007, -0/+3newsflash - I actually forgot the punchline to my newsflash retort.
- theblt, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3I'm really sick of these targeted ads. Whatever happened to the Flash game ads? Or the bright flashing ones? I'd rather have those back than ones targeted especially for me..
- jguy584, on 11/05/2007, -0/+3Most people who ask me to clean ad-ware off their computer think those pop-up ads that are disguised as windows errors messages are real. They then click "OK" on it and proceed to click "OK" on any message that comes up after that.
Believe it or not, most average users are easily fooled into clicking on things they obviously shouldn't. - inactive, on 11/04/2007, -1/+4yaaaawwwnn, uhh I have a totally awesome tinfoil parabolic helmet so I'm not tracked
- JAGUART, on 11/05/2007, -3/+6In other news, 86% of Americans "don't think its worth getting off the couch for"
- 0xFEEDFACE, on 11/04/2007, -1/+3Now _that_ is a grammatically-correct ass-whooping.
- OBKenobi, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2Get a router or hardware firewall that supports IP and/or URL blocking. I've added quite a few sites already, including Microsoft ever since their stealth updates and WGA shenanigans.
- ithejosh, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2And how is this surprising?
- Zarokima, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2Okay, I can understand double-posts, but 14 minutes apart?
- joshmoney, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2Once you are aware of this its almost surreal how common the practice is. Just yesterday I went to the Armani Exchange website looking for a new shirt (which I haven't been to in over a year) - one minute later I went to Digg, and an advertisement for the Armani Exchange store popped up at the top of the page offering a discount code for free shipping.
- acidbathfan, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2Online tracking for many Americans in the heartland is when they look out their screen door to see if their underwear is done drying in the backyard.
- prezzy, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2from who?
- TheFoolyCooly, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2I used to do that, hostnames are almost infinite, not to mention could change at any time.
- Talena, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2Ads?? I don't see any ads :)
If you don't want them, you can disable them.... - illiteratebeef, on 11/04/2007, -1/+3 newsflash - many consumers are ***** retarded.
- Lixie, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2I can't even count how many times I have to deny firefox from setting "track.blah.com" cookies.
- Talena, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2But you had to look at it before you knew they were in a subject that interests you, thats not ignoring.
Block the ads altogether, now that's ignoring - indiephoenix, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1That sounds more like a vague excuse in defense of their typically small samples rather than a reasonable explanation why what they stated is true. Comparing their actions to taking a small sample of blood for testing is a horrible example.
Blood tests typically look for material that is widespread throughout the circulatory system in a singular organism that naturally leans towards homeostasis. In other words, blood taken from a vein in your right arm should be quite similar to blood taken from a vein in your left. However, the U.S. is not the same in every single city or state. Each one has their own variance in culture and political leanings. Furthermore, taking things down to the individual level, like for the sake of polling, yields even more variance. In a typical blood test, each drop of blood would be rather similar whereas in their polling, each individual could be radically different. I'll admit, that last analogy might not work that well, but I still think it's fair to say the U.S. isn't homogeneous enough to be compared to blood samples.
I could see 1200 being a reasonable number in a small country with little immigration where all people are of relatively similar cultural backgrounds. However, the United States is anything but that. What makes things worse regarding the article is that all sampling was done in one state and yet they use that as a profile for the entire nation. I'm sorry if I seemed a bit petty over the polling used in this article, but I've been coming across a lot of statistics on digg lately that have had little or nothing to back them up. - bluenash, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1there are ads on digg?
- etruscan, on 11/05/2007, -0/+1BING BING BING... you win!
- drewbe121212, on 11/05/2007, -0/+1Beautifully said, Harmonix. People are too freaked out about this situation and really just blowing something small completely out of proportion. It is true, they just want the data to see what a person is doing on the website, and how they can better serve them. Believe it or not, alot of customers want their users to buy stuff as it keeps them in business, and they study this data to figure out how to get the product they want to the user.
- crackintosh, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1 I personally don't mind "targeted marketing". I actually prefer seeing relevant adds. I mean there will be ads regardless, so why not have them be for things I'm interested in?
- jesusfresh, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1muh...fashnik?
- drewbe121212, on 11/05/2007, -0/+1I agree. People say 'block ads block ads', but what happens when our favorite sites get taken down? Digg is powered off of adverts. If adverts weren't paying digg's bill, their would be no digg. Use your head people. At least they are trying to deliver ads that are relevant to you... you know so that when you are surfing a gaming website you are not getting political ads and visa versa. If I am gaming, the last thing I want to see is some lame ad for voting or the like; unless it is an ad to where you can play a game involving the political situation. It's not like these companies are singling out a person and watching his and her every single move. They are gathering the data and running algorithm's against the data. Common sense people; it will do us all wonders.
- acrodev, on 11/06/2007, -0/+1You don't have to subscribe to the Onstar service for the transmitter and receiver to be active.
http://www.livescience.com/technology/071010-onsta ... - wattersm, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1And a poor one.
- PabloIV, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1I was gonna post this exactly. Well said!
-
Show 51 - 81 of 81 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is