Be Careful What You Click For

A report in today's New York Times details the crumbling wall of privacy most of us hide behind when surfing for porn and illegal downloads. Beware! Web companies are keeping tabs on what visitors are looking for so they can tailor advertisements specific to your perversions. In fact, Yahoo! collects an average of 2,500 isolated info pickups per month for it's visitors. Kind of scary if you ask me. I've got a closet full of shame that undoubtedly would benefit from any number of products. But let me willingly offer that up. I've no shame in shame revealing.

Anyway this has got me thinking: what types of sites are Yeah, I Figured staff looking at? I consulted a leading online information firm to help in my investigation. A summary of the findings:

• Frybyrd - Frequent stops at Lynyrd Skynard and Chicago Cubs fansites were expected. What's troubling is the amount of visits to http://www.overthetopentertainment.net/, a local DJ group specializing in Karaoke. Hmmm...


• Hennessy - No consistency in regular site visits, but keyword searches, "video of people being hit in the balls" and "men who love the View" were the norm.


• Grease - Results proved inconclusive. Researchers were unable to access internal memory due to excessive security measures. "Is he as guarded in the real world as he is online," asked one technician. The lone discernible piece of data uncovered was an e-receipt from Amazon.com for two books entitled, Grease Stain Removal Made Easy: From Tile to Skin, Solutions for Every Accident by Dr. Gerald Bartulovic and Living with Uncertainty: The Passive Aggressive Roommate by Dr. Drew Pinsky.


• JDot - Monthly visits to my sister's Facebook page outnumber all others 4 to 1. You fucking asshole.