Internet Based Ads

Internet-Based Advertising and Tracking

Internet-based advertising, also referred to as ad targeting or online behavioral advertising (OBA), involves monitoring users’ online activities to present personalized or targeted ads. This process, often unnoticed by users, enables businesses to tailor their advertisements based on inferred interests. Many internet users searching for products or services have encountered behavioral advertising.

A common example of OBA involves the use of “cookies,” small text files stored on your browser by a website’s server. These cookies send information about your browsing behavior back to the server. They can also store data like passwords or items in a virtual shopping cart. In some cases, such as networks involving multiple websites, cookies can track a user’s activity across different sites—resulting in scenarios where ads “follow” users from one site to another (e.g., from a travel site to a news platform).

Although users can opt out of tracking and delete cookies to stop future tracking, certain types of cookies, such as HTTP cookies (often called “zombie cookies”), may automatically regenerate even after deletion attempts.

Custom online advertising has become commonplace, and people are starting to take notice. While some view the practice as an invasion of privacy due to its heavy reliance on personal data collection, others argue that it’s harmless.

To learn more about how we collect, use, and share your information, please refer to our Privacy Policy.