A lot of people find targeted advertising creepy – and just plain wrong if targeted at kids, especially little ones. Well, if your kids have iPhones and they have the latest operating-system software, iOS 6, then you can help them turn off apps' ability to "learn" their interests and target ads at them. Apple calls the setting "Limit Ad Tracking." My ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid explains … [Read more...] about To keep advertisers from tracking your kids’ phones
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Does tracking our kids’ every move make them safer?
Reflecting on a cellphone app developer's claim, I'm thinking that tracking our kids' movements, moment by moment, isn't the best way to enhance "family awareness." Those are the words of Chris Hull, CEO of the company that developed the Life360 tracking app, in an interview for Time. Is that "awareness" as in "surveillance"? Oddly, Time interpreted Hull's reference to be "family awareness" as … [Read more...] about Does tracking our kids’ every move make them safer?
Behavioral advertising: So far we’re not opting out
Online advertisers have been testing US Web users' tolerance for behavioral advertising (tracking our online activities or behaviors and targeting us with ads based on that automated tracking), and so far not many of us have been bothered by it. "Since last year, ad organizations in the US have been running a campaign designed to convince Congress and the FTC that self-regulation is good enough," … [Read more...] about Behavioral advertising: So far we’re not opting out
From do-not-call to do-not-track? FTC says yes
In its just-released preliminary framework for protecting Internet users' privacy, the Federal Trade Commission "suggests implementation of a 'Do Not Track' mechanism" reminiscent of the very successful Do Not Call list it launched in 2003. The do-not-track mechanism, "likely a persistent setting on consumers’ [Web] browsers" would allow consumers to choose "whether to allow the collection of data … [Read more...] about From do-not-call to do-not-track? FTC says yes