PRISM data collection draws attention to consumer data tracking

Everyone is up in arms about PRISM, the National Security Agency program that allegedly gave the government access to several Internet companies’ servers. But when you go to a news site to read about PRISM, you’re watched by dozens of commercial data trackers, mostly marketing or analytics firms and advertising networks.

The hubbub over the government’s secret data program has renewed the scrutiny of all forms of data mining, both the government and private varieties. Programs like PRISM ostensibly target potential terrorists. But commercial data mining has a much broader mandate: Sell stuff to people by targeting ads based on where they go and what they do online. As a result, consumers are increasingly watched by third parties no matter where they browse the Web. When privacy advocates discuss commercial data tracking, they’re usually referring to a wide range of activities — from data brokers like Acxiom, which aggregates online and offline shopping habits, to services like the Google display network, which tracks browsing data to serve up relevant ads. There are significant and important differences between commercial and government tracking. Chief among them is that companies are subject to market pressures, while the government is not. Still, many users are unaware of the breadth of tracking by commercial data miners, another anxiety for privacy advocates who see big data eroding consumer rights online.