Technology & Innovation — September 19, 2010

Tracking Children Online

“A Wall Street Journal investigation has found that popular children’s websites install more tracking technologies on personal computers than do the top websites aimed at adults.”

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“The Wall Street Journal examined 50 sites popular with U.S. teens and children to see what tracking tools they installed on a test computer. As a group, the sites placed 4,123 ‘cookies,’ ‘beacons’ and other pieces of tracking technology. That is 30% more than were found in an analysis of the 50 most popular U.S. sites overall, which are generally aimed at adults. The most prolific site: Snazzyspace.com, which helps teens customize their social-networking pages, installed 248 tracking tools. Its operator described the site as a “hobby” and said the tracking tools come from advertisers. Starfall.com, an education site for young children, installed the fewest, five.”

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