Behavioural Tracking on the Internet: A Technical Perspective

The concept of Behavioural Profiling (also known as “targeting”) consists of collecting and analysing several events, each attributable to a single originating entity, in order to gain information relating to the originating entity. It consists of, in other words, transforming data into knowledge (Hildebrandt 2006). Behavioural profiling involves collecting data (recording, storing and tracking) and searching it for identifying patterns (with the help of data mining algorithms). The data collection phase is often referred to as Behavioural Tracking. An example of behavioural targeting scenario is provided in Dwyer (2009). A consumer shops online for an airline ticket to NewYork City. He searches for flights, but does not make any purchase. He subsequently visits the web site of the local newspapers that displays adds offering tickets to New York. While no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) might have been collected, his interest in airline tickets has been noted.