is it legal and possible

[coder4life]

I was jus wondering if its legal and possible to track somone around the internet after they leave my site to find out there intrests and so on.... I've have an idea of a possible way to do so with cookies and a log file on your server but i dont want to try it and/or give it away whenm finished if its not legal to do.... cause im young and dont really have any money but can anyone help me.... From what ive been thinking its legal because of that fact that in a way it would be spyware but then again it would break privacy laws so i don't know.... Whatever happined to those privacy laws anyway it seems like we no longer have them nowadays :hmmmm: that everyone is watching us wherever we go....... Spooky aint it????

[animgirl]

I don't know... but if someone could do that and did it to me, it would be go time.

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung/aktion/action-smiley-021.gif
animgirl

[Astrolegoboy]

http://www.members.aol.com/teejaw/smilies/NewRound.gif http://www.members.aol.com/teejaw/smilies/Boxing2.gif

hehehe... http://www.members.aol.com/teejaw/smilies/Disturbed.gif

[coder4life]

Im was planning on doing this on my homepage in order to find out what people are interested in to better my site... Yes i would tell them what im doing..... But I cant think of a way for them to say yes they want to do it and then it adds the cookie.... Should I have a form that sends them to another page when they say they would like to help and then on that page the cookie is placed????

[coder4life]

no that info is for my old homepage im stuck on what to put on it content wise and i would only really use it for like 2 days or so to find out what people are into so that i can figure out some more things to add to my site cause im low on ideas and its my oldest and first ever site so i want to keep it.... ive done somthing along these lines before but it was a forum for them to submit data to me but i dont want to do it that way again i want a challenge so i was going to work on a way to do that and if it worked sell it to companies or somthing like that....

[coder4life]

I understand what your saying and i gues it wouldnt really make all that much sense to create it unless i was really bored one day and had nothing to do i could take on that task and see if its able to be done..... Maybe one day ill do it and if i ever do ill be sure to post it here along with my progress and any bugs or whatever so people can help..... As of now i guess this project is dead..... Alot like firstpage i guess.....:(

[Astrolegoboy]

The web browsing/tracking method you suggest verges on illegal "wiretapping" (closest analogy). If you did create a method of collecting personal information, you would open yourself to major headaches (ie potential lawsuits - look at Gator, Dept of Def data mining, etc) not to mention a huge security risk both for you and the user you collected information about (how can you ensure the security of the information you collect or control its use)

I can almost gurantee that if visitors to your site knew about this "usage profiling" very few if any would willingly agree to participate (ie voluntarily give up their right to privacy). And if this info was collected without the users knowledge you're back to potential lawsuits not to mention open yourself up to DoS attacks (and other more devious tactics) by vengeful visitors.

In the end you would've basically defeated your main purpose for developing this usage tracking method - developing site content that holds a user's interest & generating more users to your site.

So if you do continue this project I would advise you proceed very cautiously, and make sure the visitors to you site are fully aware of and fully agree with what you are doing (what info is collected, for how long, how will this info be used, how is this info protected, etc)

PS: Software is only "DEAD" when its usefulness is outlived or a newer product outperforms it. I still find 1st Page 2000 very useful and one of the better if not best HTML editors out there even with all its quirks and age (dated version). Hopefully development will continue (restart) shortly!

[dreuby]

If your only aim is to find out what visitors want on your site, why not simply ask them with a feedback form?

If you don't know whether they're browsing for pleasure, for research, for work, your results will be valueless. For example, I visit your site, one of my children rush in and says "I need to find about X for school NOW!" - I go to sites covering what they're looking for. You use that info thinking I want it on your site - but you'd be wrong.

I can't see that tracking visitors after they leave your site will give an accurate idea of what content to include.

[lex]

Hello.

Principally, it is not legal. All countries from Europe and USA (not sure about the others) are bound by international agreements for human rights and particularily for protecting personal data.

In brief, any kind of collecting personal information data without the agreement of your visitors would be against the Law.

But I think there could be a way of getting your idea realized anyway. You can just add somewhere on your site a link to a "Terms and conditions" page in which you explain to your visitors that you mean to collect personal information about them. The ask them whether they agree or disagree. There is no legal obstacle to collect the data you require for those visitors who gave positive answer.

But this means that you should first check if the visitor agrees and then activate your web module wich gathers the information.

That's it.

Hope you get my message right. :)
If there is something else you want to ask, you can send me a PM.

Regards,
Peter

[backhus]

If you want more informations about your visitors you can analyse log from your server. This practis don't break laws and scripts can be fond on the web for free.

[bigdawg]

That ideology would only backfire on you. What about the master manipulator. After leaving your site goes to several dummy sites just to mess with your head. Yes I guess if you only have a few visitors and they all seem to go to a bar that sells Budweiser it might give you insight to offer sixpacks on your site.

[IWS Brandon]

If you want to know if its illegal or legal just look at Gator/MySearchBar/Yahoo!/Google/and every other spyware outthere.
Everyone gets tracked, and I'm sure there is a legal way by having people "unknowingly" sign up to that service, giving you the permission to track them. When you install software you always get 3rd party software installed as well and its always in the End User Agreement. The thing that all these people learned early on is that no one actually takes the time to read it. People always just click Next Next Install. You are legally binding yourself to this agreement when you install these programs. It is the same for websites. If you join a site or a forum they have Privacy Policies & Terms of Agreements. If you want to legally follow people, just add it in to the User Agreement. Contact a lawyer to get the proper wording and make sure you can't get in trouble. But other then that its legal, just as long as you don't violate their computer. And to answer your other question, the only way to do this is to install some sort of software on their computer that runs when their browser runs.

But I dont' like peopel who do those things. I don't want people to know where I go and what I do. With every software there are holes and glitches. Imagine the information that could leak out when you run a software that allows people to see what sites you surf :S Kinda scary.

[Votekick]

I know this thread is old, and probably has been exhusted, but my thinking in this would be to do it. For all it's worth you would prbably just find either that most of these people who hit your site have totally different interests and so on, or you' could find the diamond you've been looking for.
If you want an honest opion then just follow your surfers for only 2 pages after yours, this could just give you a clue as to how they surf.
Yes most "Monster" sites do follow you, and it is a good idea from their point of view, besides that I surf all my usual places anyway.
Go to this site they offer a tool that should do what your wanting and more, or create the one you talked about, http://www.boutell.com .

[sarab]

Surely you need to post a questionnaire form that visitors could fill in if they wished?

People are pretty helpful when asked, but I would expect some come-backs/general outrage if you start tracking folk around the Web.

I know how I'd feel if it happened to me! :-(

SaraB

[helga]

Sya tidak bisa bhs inggris dengan baik, so akan mengomentari dg bahasa indonesia saja.
Secara prinsip, memasang cookie untuk men - track - perilaku browsing seseorang adalah ilegal. Bisa dianggap pencurian, terutama pencurian privasi (melanggar privasi seseorang). Namun anda boleh mengetahui hobi atau apapun profile seseorang dg cara melihat profile yang bersangkutan di webnya ( jika menyediakan profile nya untuk dilihat). Jadi sebaiknya jangan lakukan track habit surfer internet, karena melanggar privasi.
Sekali lagi ma af, komentarku dalam bahasa indonesia. Semoga ada yang mo menterjemahkan.

[Terminator1138]

Please translate your question in English if possible, thanks.

[veedee]

Sya tidak bisa bhs inggris dengan baik, so akan mengomentari dg bahasa indonesia saja.
Secara prinsip, memasang cookie untuk men - track - perilaku browsing seseorang adalah ilegal. Bisa dianggap pencurian, terutama pencurian privasi (melanggar privasi seseorang). Namun anda boleh mengetahui hobi atau apapun profile seseorang dg cara melihat profile yang bersangkutan di webnya ( jika menyediakan profile nya untuk dilihat). Jadi sebaiknya jangan lakukan track habit surfer internet, karena melanggar privasi.
Sekali lagi ma af, komentarku dalam bahasa indonesia. Semoga ada yang mo menterjemahkan.
translate :
Principaly, using cookie to track someone's browsing habit is illegal. Could be presumme as pilferage, especially in someone's privacy. But you may know hobbies or anything from their website's profile (If any). So its better not to track internet surfer's habit, cos it against someone's privacy. I really apologies that I write in Indonesian.

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