[1][2] More specifically, cross-device tracking is a technique in which technology companies and advertisers deploy trackers, often in the form of unique identifiers, cookies, or even ultrasonic signals, to generate a profile of users across multiple devices, not simply one.
[6] Thus, cross-device tracking initially emerged as a means of generating a profile of users across multiple devices, not simply one.
[6] Another tactic used by Google is called AdID and works on smartphones in tandem with cookies on a user's computer to track behavior across devices.
[3] Ultrasound, which is shorter wavelengths greater than or equal to 20 kHz, enables the rapid transmission of data necessary for cross-device tracking to occur.
Data can be collected from multiple devices used by a single user and correlated to form a more accurate picture of the person being tracked.
[15] Similarly, scholars have drawn parallels between Bentham's panopticon and today's pervasive use of internet tracking in that individuals lack awareness to the vast disparities of power that exist between themselves and the corporation to which they willingly give their data.
[16] This form of counter surveillance, often used through small wearable recording devices, enables the subversion of corporate and government panoptic surveillance by holding those in power accountable and giving people a voice––a permanent video record––to push back against government abuses of power or malicious behavior that may go unchecked.
[17] In essence, this technological development led to egocasting: a world in which people exert extreme amounts of control over what they watch and hear.
[17] Plus, companies like TiVO analyze how TV show watchers use their remote and DVR capability to skip over programming, such as advertisements––a privacy concern users may lack awareness of as well.
[20] Increasingly, users' digital identity is becoming commodified through the selling and monetizing of their personal data for profit by large companies.
[20] The increased usage of cross-device tracking by advertisers is indicative of the rise of a new era of data extraction and analysis as a form of profit, or surveillance capitalism, a term coined by Shoshana Zuboff.
[21] Zuboff suggests that this new era of surveillance capitalism eclipses Bentham's panopticon, becoming far more encroaching and invasive as, unlike a prison, there is no escape, and the thoughts, feelings, and actions of users are immediately extracted to be commodified and resold.
Notably, the algorithms used to extract and mine user data are increasingly seen as business assets and thus protected via trade secrets.
[24] In the tool role, the self-tracking device functions as a mechanism to help the user in some capacity, often to achieve personal health goals.
[24] The toy role underscores how some self-tracking users see it as a fun game, particularly with regard to rewards and viewing the visualized data.
[27] In effect, users of online technologies should identify the social activities they use on the internet and start questioning websites' governing norms as a natural outgrowth of their web browsing.
Legally, The Federal Trade Commission has a responsibility to prevent deceptive practices by technology companies, such as those that could lead to consumer injury.
[28] Concerning tracking in physical space, the FTC has also cracked down on Nomi, a company that scans the MAC addresses of customers' phones in stores.
[28] In addition, audio beacon technology, used by an application called Silverpush, could violate the FTC's policies because users were not made aware as to when the ultrasonic signals were being recorded.
[29] Customers are also being denied a voice in contracts, since only corporations set the rules by which individuals' private information is mined and extracted.
[29] The solution to these issues, according to scholars, are opt-in controls to police users' privacy that enable balance to be restored to the law, particularly as it stands regarding contracts.
[29] Ethically, Zuboff points to the extraction, commodification, and analysis of private human experiences as well as increased surveillance––which is sometimes hidden––in everyday life as violating users' rights to privacy.