BY EMILY CHUNG CBC
Have you done searches about potentially embarrassing topics like pregnancy, divorce or liposuction? Then embarrassing targeted ads could appear on your screen as you’re browsing the news. That’s one of the findings of a new study on targeted ads conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — and it shouldn’t be happening, the report says. Popular websites for things such as news, job searches or shopping may show you ads based on other websites you’ve visited that may indicate your interests — a practice called online behavioural advertising. For example, if you’ve been looking for a new digital camera, ads for digital cameras might show up as you’re reading allrecipes.com, kijiji, or the Vancouver Sun.
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Facebook And Cisco Let Brick-&-Mortars Demand Customers Check-In To Get Wi-Fi
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By Josh ConstineTech Crunch Restaurants, hotels, and other businesses are spending a lot to provide customers with free Wi-Fi. Today Facebook and Cisco roll out a way to help any brick-and-mortar recoup its costs by asking users to check-in to get Internet access. Those who oblige get dropped on the business’ Facebook Page, and their anonymous, aggregate demographic info is passed to the merchant. The Cisco and Facebook partnership extends a pilot of “Facebook Wi-Fi” that began running with 25 businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area last year. The test showed that businesses tripled their daily check-in count by using the system.