[di meliora]

... concern about cyber crime has lead to "an increasing tendency to pass laws that allow law enforcement and private companies access to our information to follow what we’re doing, to demand that companies hand over information with less and less due process" in the United States and Western Europe.

This quote is from an article entitled, Censorship is Not a Solution: Know Your Digital Rights. There is a video that accompanies the article: http://bigthink.com/think-tank/know-your-rights.

I suppose it is not news the 4th amendment has been gutted in many respects. Those who are concerned about how information is being gathered and used need to ask questions and look into the policies that apply at a given site.

The Psych Central Privacy Policy is here: http://psychcentral.com/about/privacy.htm

[Open Eyes]

Very interesting di meliora, thank you for posting this.

Open Eyes

[DocJohn]

Yup, you should know and understand a website's privacy policy before using it. Always a good idea.

Looks pretty typical. On this particular forum you have trackers.

Google Analytics: a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about visitors to a Web site for marketers. Google Analytics makes it possible to track users across search engines, email campaigns and display advertising giving advertisers the opportunity to optimize campaigns on multiple platforms.

Quantcast: provides real-time detailed audience profiles for advertisers to buy, sell, connect and learn more about what consumers are doing online.

ScoreCard Research Beacon: arket research company that studies Internet trends and behavior. They work in conjunction with distributors and content providers to develop an anonymous, census-level analysis of Internet usage. Using data gleaned from its content provider partnerships Full Circle Studies constructs a census type view of visits to that website, which it uses to develop an understanding of broader Internet usage patterns.

All are blockable. If you click on the privacy policy page you get one more tracker along with Facebook and twitter feeds.

[Nammu]

So let me see if I understand this. This site put trackers on me that lets them know what I google, what stories I read on my own web page, which stories I read on psych com and what email campaigns I contribute to?

[DocJohn]

Not you personally, no. All of this data is aggregated and collected primarily for statistical purposes and general market research.

While we appreciate the feedback and reminder to check a website's privacy policy, what we do is standard practice for commercial websites. Virtually every website you visit online is collecting similar data and using it for similar purposes.

We haven't made any significant changes to any of this -- the statistical data we collect or our privacy policy -- for over 5 years. We'll let you know if this ever changes.

DocJohn

[pegasus]

I have to say that I used to go to another forum where they had spybots that you could see in the whos online bit. These bots were going round actually picking out posts to index on Google, Yahoo etc. I don't believe that happens here. This quote has recently be added to the community guidelines -

You should be aware that we allow Google and other search engines to index our community, in order to help others who are searching for a safe and supportive online self-help support community for mental health issues find us. Please do not post identifying information here that you wouldn't want to be seen by those who know you in your life.

I think that it means that 'Psych Central Forums' can then be found by people looking for help. I don't think that our posts are individually indexed but I'm sure DocJohn will correct me on that if I'm wrong.

The privacy policy here, I feel is very good. I think it means we could be tracked on what resources we look at but heck there are millions of people that use PC resources and I guess they need to know what services people find useful.

I do suggest, as the guidelines state, that if you are worried about you identity then you should make sure your user name is anonymous.

It isn't quite as bad as it sounds. I'm sure PC only uses cookies for session ID and personal use...e.g. to remember/identify members, member personal settings etc.
The three I mentioned are third party tracking cookies, used for marketing or web analytics. There isn't supposed to be any personally identifiable information in cookies but I'm not sure how that can be. Google and Facebook are just about everywhere on the internet. If you have an acct with Gmail, Google+, or Facebook then it would seem that there is a very good possibility that personally identifiable info is is available through tracking cookies.
You can't get online without an IP, address and that is personally identifiable info, but your ISP should be the only party to be able to connect you personally to your IP addy.
I think the OP may have been referring to something else.
I'm not sure what the email campaign reference is about. When you buy something online you have to provide an email addy and you may be asked if you want to participate in email updates or promotions. If you're then contacted by email soliciting an update or a new product, and you respond using a link in the email, a cookie is going to show that there was a response from that email to help measure the effectiveness of the email campaign.
I don't think there is anything to worry about here at PC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/index.html

edit...I see now there were two clearer explanations given while I was tying all this paranoia

[-jimi-]

The worst thing that is happening, is that the power of the webmaster is slowly taken away. People have already been jailed for linking to the "wrong" sites, while themselves have nothing illegal on their site.

In the future, webmasters will be forced to inspect every link on their webpage. This can prove very hard, since the content of the linked site can change very rapidly. Also, if the site is a forum, the webmaster will be responsible for every link the members post.

This is to prevent copyright infringement, but the way it is done, will basically interfere a lot with the webaster's work. It will make links less common, which is a shame, since linking is how the web is tied together.

I belong to a few forums who already play on the safe side, they allow NO QUOTES, and NO LINKS. It saddens me that is the way we're going.

The hunt for pirates is slowly disintegrating the whole Internet.

[di meliora]

It is all part of the harvesting of information into a huge database. Big Brother knows.

[FooZe]

I run Spybot Search & Destroy on my computer(s) regularly. It'll occasionally identify and remove a "tracking cookie" or other item that's on its list of objectionable stuff. An example would be a cookie that's reporting to one site what other sites I visit.

In the 7 years or so that I've been using Spybot S&D, it's found and removed about 3 dozen tracking cookies. Most of those were early on with only about 2 a year lately. It's never yet found one that seemed to have anything to do with Psych Central.

[di meliora]

I remove hundreds of tracking cookies each week, despite trying to opt out. Nonetheless, that is irrelevant. The thread was intended as a reminder and refresher. My intention is not to suggest anything about the security at PsychCentral.

[lizardlady]

Fooze, thanks for the reminder about Spybot S&D.

If you're really tired of tracking cookies try these two programs
http://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php?
http://www.ghostery.com/
use with caution for LSO's or "supercookies" : http://nc.ddns.us/BetterPrivacy/BetterPrivacy.htm
And there is http://www.googlesharing.net/ to keep google in the dark while still using it.

If google was still just a search engine I'd trust them. They are into just about every aspect of the online experience now. The have gmail, google+, several analytics companies, youtube, and many other net services. For grins, this is a grab from a program called Collusion just to give you an idea of google connections in just a short period of time online without using blocking programs.
Yeah...I am probably too paranoid but who wants to be tracked... we have government entities for that

[FooZe]

Originally Posted by George H.

For grins, this is a grab from a program called Collusion just to give you an idea of google connections in just a short period of time online without using blocking programs.

I gather the image you posted is from a private album. If so, I'm afraid not everyone will be able to see it.

Originally Posted by FooZe

I gather the image you posted is from a private album. If so, I'm afraid not everyone will be able to see it.

It was set to private. Now it's public so I hope it's visible to anyone interested. Thanks for pointing that out.

[lizardlady]

Originally Posted by George H.

It was set to private. Now it's public so I hope it's visible to anyone interested. Thanks for pointing that out.

I can see it George.

[roads]

Thanks, everyone. This has been useful.

[FooZe]

I don't really understand how those connections among websites work. I've sometimes noticed that when I Google for information on a particular subject, some of the hits will be not actual articles about the subject but pages from a site where such articles might be, with my query already entered into their search function. That seems legitimate, though I'd rather see links to the actual articles. Some of the search results turn out to go to discussion forums where the replies say mostly, "I haven't a clue about that, either."

In addition to regular Google hits, the results page I get will usually have "sponsored links" and other ads at the top, bottom, and side(s). Some of these ads clearly don't have a clue about whatever I was searching for but want to attract me to their site anyway. I noticed a few years ago that even if I Googled on something undesirable, let's say "creeping crud" (whatever that may be), I'd get a few ads that said, "We have creeping crud for you!"

On my other computer I use a dialup connection to a provider located in "Smalltown", maybe 50 miles from here. The ads I get (on Yahoo, for instance) often show me pictures of attractive women located near Smalltown who allegedly want to meet me ("click on your age range...") On this computer I use a cable connection to a provider located in "Bigcity". The ads I get on Yahoo feature stuff in or near Bigcity that I might conceivably be interested in.

[*freak*]

http://donottrackplus.com/howitworks.php blocks trackers

and

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir.../adblock-plus/ blocks ads

Also, if you're worried about your privacy on the web avoid Chrome (browser), Gmail (email provider) and in general most of the services provided by Google.
Hope this helps