The Internet Is Spying On You - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet
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5Vale Middle School Reading Article
THE INTERNET IS SPYING ON YOU
Instructions:
Read the following article carefully and make notes in the margin as you read.
Your notes should include:
o Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main
idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)
o Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.
o Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.
o Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, perspective,
support) and choices affect the article.
Your margin notes are part of your score for this assignment.
Student _________________________________
Class Period _____________________________
THE INTERNET IS SPYING ON YOU
Notes on my thoughts,
reactions and questions as I
Every time you go online, sophisticated data miners are tracking your every
read:
move. What do they know about you?
How frequently am I followed online?
Constantly. Your computer leaves a unique digital trail every time you visit a
website, post a comment on a blog, or add a photo to your Facebook wall. A
growing number of companies follow that trail to assemble a profile of you and your
affinities. These profiles can contain shocking levels of detail—including your age,
income, shopping habits, health problems, sexual proclivities, and ZIP code—right
down to the number of rooms in your house and the number of people in your
family. Although trackers don’t identify their subjects by name, the data they
compile is so extensive that “you can find out who an individual is without it,” says
Maneesha Mithal of the Federal Trade Commission.
How does the technology work?
The moment you land on a website, it installs a unique electronic code on your hard
drive. Owners of websites originally placed “cookies,” the simplest such codes, on
computers for users’ convenience, in order to remember things like the contents of
online shopping carts. But a cookie placed by one site can also serve as a tracking
device that allows marketers to identify an individual computer and follow its path
on every Web visit. It’s like a clerk who sells you a pair of jeans at one store, then
trails you around the mall, recording every store you visit and every item of clothing
you try on. “Beacons” are super-cookies that record even computer keystrokes and
mouse movements, providing another layer of detail. “Flash cookies” are installed
when a computer user activates Flash technology, such as a YouTube video,
embedded on a site. They can also reinstall cookies that have been removed. Such
“persistent cookies,” says Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, make it “virtually impossible for users to go online without being tracked and
profiled.”
Template developed by North Medford High School staff
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