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Your Apps Are Watching You
A Journal investigation finds that iPhone and Android apps are breaching the privacy of smartphone users. 13th in a series.

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Latest News

Firefox Web Tool to Deter Tracking
Mozilla plans to add a do-not-track feature to its Firefox Web browser, which could let users avoid having their actions monitored online.
Smartphone Marketers Plan Privacy Rules
Facing growing public concern about privacy breaches, a lobby representing mobile-phone advertisers and publishers called for guidelines to better protect smartphone users from intrusive tracking technologies.
- Your Apps Are Watching You
- Vote: Should apps notify on data sharing?
More From the Series
The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets
A Wall Street Journal investigation finds that one of the fastest growing businesses on the Internet is the business of spying on American consumers. First in a series.
Personal Details Exposed Via Biggest U.S. Websites
The largest U.S. websites are installing new and intrusive consumer-tracking technologies on the computers of people visiting their sites—in some cases, more than 100 tracking tools at a time—a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
- Video: How Advertisers Use Cookies
- Follow @whattheyknow on Twitter
Microsoft Quashed Bid to Boost Web Privacy
After sharp internal debate, Microsoft designed Internet Explorer so that users must turn on privacy settings every time IE starts. Second in a series.
- Digits Video: Browser Profitability vs. Privacy
- How often do you tweak browser settings?
On Web's Cutting Edge, Anonymity in Name Only
Websites are gaining the ability to decide whether or not you'd be a good customer, before you tell them a single thing about yourself. Third in a series.
Stalking by Cellphone
GPS tracking technology used by many phone companies has unexpectedly made it easier for spousal abusers to track their victims. Fourth in a series.
- Video: What They Know: Stalkers Turn to GPS
- Readers React: 'Time for this debate in the open'
Google Agonizes Over Privacy
A confidential, Google "vision statement" shows the company in a deep round of soul-searching: How far should it go in profiting from the vast trove of data it possesses about people's activities? Fifth in a series.
Kids Face Intensive Tracking on Web
A WSJ investigation into online privacy found that popular children's websites install more tracking technologies on computers than top sites aimed at adults. Sixth in a series.
'Scrapers' Dig Deep for Data on Web
The market for personal data about Internet users is hot—and in the vanguard is "scraping," the practice of harvesting and selling online conversations. In May, Nielsen Co. scraped private forums where patients discuss illnesses. Seventh in a series.
- Digits: Escaping the 'Scrapers'
Facebook in Privacy Breach
Many of the top applications on Facebook have been transmitting identifying information to Internet tracking and ad companies. Eighth in a series.
- How the Leaks Happen
- Some Apps Return After Breach
- Facebook Faces Lawsuit
A Web Pioneer Profiles Users by Name
RapLeaf—which compiles real names and email addresses of Internet users—ranks among the most sophisticated players in the fast-growing business of profiling people online and trading in personal details of their lives. Ninth in a series.
Insurers Test Data Profiles to Identify Risky Clients
Life insurers are testing a new use for data about Americans: predicting longevity. A Deloitte test evaluated applicants based on data about things like online shopping and magazine subscriptions. 10th in a series.
- News Hub: Online Data Could Predict Your Lifespan
- Vote: Should data be used to predict longevity?
Profiling Technology Mounts a Comeback
One of the most potentially intrusive technologies for profiling and targeting Internet users with ads, "deep packet inspection," is on the verge of a comeback. 11th in a series.
Race Is On to 'Fingerprint' Devices
Device fingerprinting, or collecting digital identifiers from computers, cellphones and other devices, is emerging as the latest tool for companies who sell the information to advertisers. 12th in a series.
<img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110217032232im_/http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/media/TRACKERSCAN10-alt-1.jpg" alt="" width="262" height="176"/>

Multimedia

Explore the Data
The Journal analyzed the tracking files installed by the 50 most popular U.S. websites, plus WSJ.com. See what the study found, plus more on kids' sites.
Video: A Guide to Cookies
It's rarely a coincidence when you see Web ads for products that match your interests. The Journal explains how advertisers use cookies to track your online habits.
One Smart Cookie
New York ad company [x+1] made predictions about users based on just one click on a website. Read more about the users and the companies' assumptions.
Google: Into the Future
A confidential internal document from 2008 outlines ways Google could try to profit from its vast databases of personal information. See excerpts from the document.
Google's Widening Reach
Google, a company with vast pools of data about its users, is moving into the world of highly targeted ads. See how Google has changed its collection and use of data.
Cracking the Code
RapLeaf ties people's email addresses to a profile about them and uses that profile to target ads. See data RapLeaf had on one user and how its system works.

More From Digits

Mobile Ad Vendor Offers Tracking Opt-Out
UPDATED: A proposed settlement of a lawsuit challenging the tracking of mobile-phone users could make it easier for users to opt out of targeted ads on some mobile websites.
Lawmaker Introduces New Privacy Bill
By Julia Angwin, Scott Thurm and Michael Hickins Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., introduced a bill Friday that would give the Federal Trade Commission authority to establish an online do-not-track system. The bill is the first in this session to specifically tackle the creation of a do-not-track system, according to a spokesman for [...]
Web Analysts Back Code of Ethics Amid Privacy Concerns
Amid increasing scrutiny of the Internet-data industry, a group of people who analyze such online information are trying to get their colleagues to commit to a code of ethics.
Digits Live Show: Jobs's Health Sparks CEO Privacy Debate
Some Apple shareholders are concerned about the company's limited disclosure about Steve Jobs's indefinite medical leave, sparking a debate about how much companies should be required to share.
Google Announces New Privacy Tool for Chrome
Blocking Your Facebook Comments From Facebook Itself
See all related posts

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Reaction to the Series

U.S. Seeks Web 'Bill of Rights'
The Obama administration said Americans should have a "privacy bill of rights" to help regulate the commercial collection of consumer data online.
- Vote: Are privacy laws needed?
Microsoft to Add 'Tracking Protection' to Web Browser
Microsoft will include a privacy feature in Internet Explorer 9 that would let users stop certain websites and tracking companies from gathering information about them.
- Vote: Would you use a do-not-track tool?
Data-Miners to Reveal What They Know
Seeking to head off scrutiny over Internet privacy, a group of online tracking rivals is building a service that lets consumers see what those companies know about them.
- Policing Privacy on Web Debated
- Video: More Clear-Cut Options for Web Users
FTC Backs 'Don't Track'
An FTC report calls for development of a system that would enable people to avoid having their actions monitored online, a move Internet-ad firms oppose.
- Video: FTC Calls for Non-Tracking System
- Read the FTC Report
Law Would Prohibit Online Tracking of Kids
Legislation set to be introduced early next year would prohibit companies from tracking children on the Internet without parental consent.
- Audio: How Companies Track Kids
Firefox Privacy Tool Reconsidered
The makers of the Firefox browser are exploring a do-not-track mechanism, just months after killing a different tool.
- Video: Hiding Your Online Footprints
- Vote: Would you use a do-not-track tool?
Online-Privacy Watchdog Planned
The Obama administration is preparing a stepped-up approach to policing Internet privacy that calls for new laws and a new position to oversee the effort.
Websites Rein In Tracking Tools in Pursuit of Profit
Major websites are moving to limit the number of tracking technologies like "cookies" spreading on their sites, hoping to keep lucrative data about visitors for themselves—and avoid privacy risks.
- Websites May Benefit From Tracking Tools
- Video: Websites Move to Curb Cookies
Facebook Pledges Steps on User Data
Facebook told lawmakers it had taken steps to prevent the sharing of personal information about users, including temporarily suspending certain applications.
Facebook Says User Data Sold to Broker
Facebook said a data broker has been paying application developers for identifying user information, and that it had placed some developers on a six-month suspension because of the practice.
More Questions for Facebook
Two House members asked Facebook for details about the way applications on the social network handle user data, following revelations of new privacy concerns.
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Website Operators Mount Defense
Eleven of the nation's big website operators defended their privacy practices to lawmakers, saying they are improving disclosures about online tracking.
Subscriber Content Read Preview

Technology Firms Support Privacy Bill
Three big technology companies are backing a bill that would strengthen federal protection of privacy on the Internet, amid mounting concerns about the collection and use of personal data.

What You Can Do

How to Avoid Prying Eyes
The Internet is rife with surveillance technology, but you can protect your privacy by following these steps.
- Graphic: Step by Step
Escaping the 'Scrapers'
The Internet has given rise to a dizzying array of sites that compile public information and profiles. A guide to getting out of the largest ones.
How to Protect Your Child's Privacy Online
Parents can take steps to limit their children's exposure to online tracking. The most important step is talking to them, experts say.
How to Prevent Device Fingerprinting
It's very difficult to avoid being tracked by device-fingerprinting technology. But those who would like to try have two different, admittedly extreme, techniques.
What They Know About You
These online marketers will show you what they know about you, or think they know.

What They Know Video

The Great Privacy Debate

Why Tracking Isn't Bad
It's modern commerce: Web users get back as much as they give, says Jim Harper.
The Dangers of Web Tracking
As companies strive to personalize services, the surreptitious collection of personal information is rampant. The very idea of privacy is under threat, says Nicholas Carr.
Related Articles on Privacy
EU Push on Cookies Fizzles Out
The EU has sought to force Internet companies to obtain permission from users before placing cookies on their computers, causing worries for Internet companies. They needn't worry too much.
Suit Aims at 'History Sniffing'
A lawsuit filed for alleged use of "history sniffing," a method for surreptitiously detecting what websites a user has visited, is the latest to take aim at technologies that harvest Internet users' personal information.
EU Chews Over Web Cookies
Europe's effort to regulate online "cookies" is crumbling, exposing how tough it is to curb the practice of tracking Internet users' movements on the Web.
MySpace, Apps Leak User Data
MySpace and some popular applications have been transmitting information to outside advertising companies that could be used to identify users, a Journal investigation found.
'Cookies' Cause Bitter Backlash
Tools that track users' whereabouts on the Web are facing increased regulatory and public scrutiny and prompting a flurry of legal challenges.
Subscriber Content Read Preview

As Web Surfers Share, Marketers Track
Those ubiquitous "AddThis" buttons, used to share Web material, raise eyebrows for the consumer data they collect in the process.