How The Intercept is balancing useful analytics with reader privacy

For the modern media company, each reader represents a potential buffet of user information. IP addresses, browsing preferences and demographic data all are fair game for publishers looking to build detailed profiles of their audiences. Edward Snowden, the former military contractor who laid bare the extent of National Security Agency surveillance, described a bleak state of affairs for Internet security in a recent interview, noting that “information is being stolen” by companies and governments with every click. News organizations in general rely on user data to tell them what stories are being viewed, who’s viewing them and for how long they’re being viewed for. But this practice poses a problem for outlets that want to safeguard the privacy of their readers without sacrificing useful information that can tell them more about their audience. That’s precisely the dilemma that The Intercept faced throughout much of its infancy.

Co-founded by national security journalists Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept has taken steps to ensure the anonymity of its sources. But the outlet still wrestled with how to measure the tendencies of its readers without compromising their identities. The solution? Create a workaround where The Intercept receives a picture of audience activity that doesn’t disclose information that could be used against its readers. That idea, which has been in the works for nearly a year, comes to fruition in Nov as The Intercept rolls out a new audience measurement system in partnership with analytics firm Parse.ly.