Are we all being secretly profiled by Youtube?

Last night, I was surfing Youtube, & I noticed on the homepage it had a section of recommended video’s I might like to watch. There was an anti-Bush video, a UFO one, military, the usual conspiracy videos with a few sports ones added too. So what? It’s a good feature right?

But what I discovered next was that I wasn’t logged in…Hmmm.....

Yet Youtube was able to correctly assemble a list of videos, that I must say I’d probably have watched if I didn’t decide to delve into the privacy policy to shed some light on it.

Here is a link to the full Youtube privacy policy; www.youtube.com... Here are some of the more important points;

Under Personal Information:

Usage Information. When you use YouTube, we may record information about your usage of the site, such as the channels, groups and favourites to which you subscribe, (1)which other users you communicate with (WTF?!?), the videos that you watch, the frequency and size of data transfers (2)and information that you display about yourself, (3)as well as information that you click in YouTube (including UI elements, settings). (4)If you are logged in, we may associate that information with your YouTube Account. In order to ensure the quality of our service to you, we may place a tag (also called a "web beacon") in HTML-based customer support emails or other communications with you in order to confirm delivery.

(1) - WHY does you tube record information about other users you make contact with? Is a private message really that private? If they’re recording the dates/times when you communicate with other members, is it really that hard to believe the contents of the message could be stored also?

(2) - Information you enter on your profile is saved.

(3) - Any videos you click, or any clicks within Youtube’s site is saved. I assume this would include every single search term you ever typed then *clicked*, all saved!

(4) - ALL of this is then associated with your YT account!!!




So don't get a YT account, right?


But hold up, if they were able to accurately compile a list of video’s to my taste while I was logged out, doesn’t that means that they are tracking your computer’s actions on YT, whether you have an account or not?



Under Advertising on Youtube:

YouTube strives to provide you with relevant and useful advertising and we use the DoubleClick cookie, as well as other third-party ad-serving systems, to do so. We may use a range of information, including cookies, web beacons, IP addresses, usage data and other non-personal information about your computer or device (such as browser type and operating system) to provide you with relevant advertising. If you are logged in to your YouTube Account, we may also show you advertising based on the information that you have provided to us in your YouTube Account.

From DoubleClick's privacy policy it shows the information that they target;

Header fields information:
Operating System type
Windows version
User’s local time
Location information from IP address

Under Uses in the YT privacy policy;

We use cookies, web beacons and log-file information to: (a) store information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time that you visit YouTube; (b) provide custom, personalised content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors and pages viewed; and (e) track your entries, submissions and status in promotions, sweepstakes and contests.

*Continued*

From what I gather from the above quoted information:

When you open Youtube, they have the right to acquire information about your Operating System, Windows version, browser type, local time & location along with a lot more “non personal” information about your computer/device.

From there, any information you type into the search bar, any messages you send, any profile information you enter, any videos you watch, comment or rate on as well as other information about everything you do on YT, is all saved & associated with your YT account if you have one, or associated with your computer/IP address if not.

Are we being profiled?

Is surfing the web anonymously just a myth now?

Google has been known since the start of the search engine that it has profiled people, that's why you get advertising that suits you, somtimes you may find porn ads or Viagra ads when you're searching some websites, because it links pornography with Viagra.

But yes, nothing new. youtube has profiled its users for some time, like many websites now days.

EVERYWHERE YOU GO IS BEING PROFILED

Read that again..and remember it...
Not just the net, but grocery stores, library...everywhere you use your credit/debit card...

i dont think there is anything sinister in that. yea they are collecting information they shouldnt be but they are most likely using tit for ads

Are we all being secretly profiled by Youtube?

Well...it's not a secret ANYMORE. Thanks a LOT.

(initiate sequence Zeta. It is RAINING in Berlin.)

reply to post by Doc Tesla

they are most likely using tit for ads

hmmmmm
sorry..had to

Originally posted by KSPigpen

Are we all being secretly profiled by Youtube?

Well...it's not a secret ANYMORE. Thanks a LOT.

(initiate sequence Zeta. It is RAINING in Berlin.)

Do my spidey senses detect a pinch of sarcasm?

Originally posted by AccessDenied
reply to post by Doc Tesla

 

they are most likely using tit for ads

hmmmmm
sorry..had to

ROFL! Sounds even more sinister to me now...

Sorry Doc!

I was just thinking about this the other night, strange that you bring it up now. I think it's very possible they could be tracking a lot of things. No, I don't believe the Internet is anonymous at all. I've never believed that. I could draw out a long scheme to show you the extent to which they could be tracking you, but I don't want to make anybody paranoid. There's no way to know how far they'd go aside from reading their policy.

As far as them presenting you with information you like, just be grateful they are only doing it on a cookie basis. If they were doing it on an IP address basis, it's possible they could recommend "your" kind of videos to your family or your co-workers. Who knows what kind of havoc that could cause.

[edit on 2-10-2009 by theyreadmymind]

well dont worry man,thats why we have plugins for firefox to block ads,block cookies,block data collection,block all theyr @^@^ up XD

reply to post by Doc Tesla


Right now it is being used for marketing, but what about during the future. What if the 'terrorist' threat reached maximum levels? Would it still be used just for advertising?

reply to post by AccessDenied


lol just had a bit of a Freudian slip there.

Originally posted by Doc Tesla
reply to post by AccessDenied

 

lol just had a bit of a Freudian slip there.

Your excuse is a Freudian slip...mine is just a dirty mind....
OK, back on topic.