Measuring surveillance in online advertising: a Big Data approach

Aaron Herps; Paul A. Watters; Guillermo Pineda-Villavicencio

doi:10.1109/CTC.2013.12

Measuring surveillance in online advertising: a Big Data approach

Aaron Herps, Paul A. Watters, Guillermo Pineda-Villavicencio

Faculty of Arts

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is an increasing public and policy awareness that tracking cookies are being used to support behavioral advertising, but the extent to which tracking is occurring is not clear. The extent of tracking could have implications for the enforceability of legislative responses to the sharing of personal data, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). In this paper, we develop a methodology for determining the prevalence of tracking cookies, and report the results for a sample of the 50 most visited sites by Australians. We find that the use of tracking cookies is endemic, but that distinct clusters of tracking can be identified across categories including search, pornography and social networking. The implications of the work in relation to privacy are discussed.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings: Fourth Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop
Subtitle of host publication	CTC 2013
Place of Publication	Piscataway, USA
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	30-35
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9781479930753
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/CTC.2013.12
Publication status	Published - 2014
Event	Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop (4th : 2013) - Sydney, NSW, Australia Duration: 21 Nov 2013 → 22 Nov 2013

Other

Other	Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop (4th : 2013)
Abbreviated title	CTC 2013
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Sydney, NSW
Period	21/11/13 → 22/11/13

Keywords

Behavioral Advertising
Cookies
Privacy
Social Media
Tracking

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10.1109/CTC.2013.12

Cite this

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title = "Measuring surveillance in online advertising: a Big Data approach",

abstract = "There is an increasing public and policy awareness that tracking cookies are being used to support behavioral advertising, but the extent to which tracking is occurring is not clear. The extent of tracking could have implications for the enforceability of legislative responses to the sharing of personal data, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). In this paper, we develop a methodology for determining the prevalence of tracking cookies, and report the results for a sample of the 50 most visited sites by Australians. We find that the use of tracking cookies is endemic, but that distinct clusters of tracking can be identified across categories including search, pornography and social networking. The implications of the work in relation to privacy are discussed.",

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author = "Aaron Herps and Watters, {Paul A.} and Guillermo Pineda-Villavicencio",

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doi = "10.1109/CTC.2013.12",

language = "English",

pages = "30--35",

booktitle = "Proceedings: Fourth Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop",

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Herps, A, Watters, PA & Pineda-Villavicencio, G 2014, Measuring surveillance in online advertising: a Big Data approach. in Proceedings: Fourth Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop: CTC 2013. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, USA, pp. 30-35, Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop (4th : 2013), Sydney, NSW, Australia, 21/11/13. https://doi.org/10.1109/CTC.2013.12

Measuring surveillance in online advertising: a Big Data approach. / Herps, Aaron; Watters, Paul A.; Pineda-Villavicencio, Guillermo.
Proceedings: Fourth Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop: CTC 2013. Piscataway, USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2014. p. 30-35.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Measuring surveillance in online advertising

T2 - Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop (4th : 2013)

AU - Herps, Aaron

AU - Watters, Paul A.

AU - Pineda-Villavicencio, Guillermo

PY - 2014

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N2 - There is an increasing public and policy awareness that tracking cookies are being used to support behavioral advertising, but the extent to which tracking is occurring is not clear. The extent of tracking could have implications for the enforceability of legislative responses to the sharing of personal data, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). In this paper, we develop a methodology for determining the prevalence of tracking cookies, and report the results for a sample of the 50 most visited sites by Australians. We find that the use of tracking cookies is endemic, but that distinct clusters of tracking can be identified across categories including search, pornography and social networking. The implications of the work in relation to privacy are discussed.

AB - There is an increasing public and policy awareness that tracking cookies are being used to support behavioral advertising, but the extent to which tracking is occurring is not clear. The extent of tracking could have implications for the enforceability of legislative responses to the sharing of personal data, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). In this paper, we develop a methodology for determining the prevalence of tracking cookies, and report the results for a sample of the 50 most visited sites by Australians. We find that the use of tracking cookies is endemic, but that distinct clusters of tracking can be identified across categories including search, pornography and social networking. The implications of the work in relation to privacy are discussed.

KW - Behavioral Advertising

KW - Cookies

KW - Privacy

KW - Social Media

KW - Tracking

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M3 - Conference proceeding contribution

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BT - Proceedings: Fourth Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

CY - Piscataway, USA

Y2 - 21 November 2013 through 22 November 2013

ER -

Measuring surveillance in online advertising: a Big Data approach

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