How companies are tracking you on the web (infographic)

7 Nov 2012

Ever feel like you’re being watched online? Well, you are, according to a new infographic that looks at how companies track internet users online and what they do with that information.

The comprehensive infographic by Veracode that’s published on Visual.ly also offers five steps to get proactive about privacy.

Nearly every major website tracks internet users in some way, the infographic says. That includes Google, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo! and more. Tracking companies build a profile of a user’s online behaviour and then often they sell that information to advertisers. The result is a user will start to see ads online related to recent content they have looked at online. The infographic explores this further under ‘The Effect of a Single Click on the Web’.

The infographic also charts the size of the online advertising industry, who is tracking users and how, who uses which methods the most, what’s next for tracking technology, privacy and security issues, and European legislation on privacy and cookies.

Infographic

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com