Xeroxing Personal Data From Your Browsing History

grease_boy writes "Xerox has filed a patent covering a technique to recover demographic information like your age, sex and perhaps even your income by analysing the pattern of web pages you browse. They want to license the technique to online advertisers and shops. Read the full patent here."

Hehe

[HomelessInLaJolla (1026842)]

Because nobody could have ever thought of this before [slashdot.org].

More lame patents

[omeomi (675045)]

Wow, great, another patent covering something completely obvious, like analyzing my browser history to find out what sorts of things I might like.

Re:More lame patents

[catbutt (469582)]

Typically patents cover the particular way something is accomplished. For instance, if you invent an airplane and patent it, you are not patenting flying in general (which might be said to be an obvious idea), but the specifics of how you accomplished it. Someone else, who uses a different approach to fly, will not infringe your patent.

Did you read the 20 claims before assuming their technique is obvious?

Re:More lame patents

[QuantumG (50515)]

Of course not. This is Slashdot, no-one here understands patents and no-one here thinks anything should be patentable.

Re:

[novus ordo (843883)]

I understand this: Europe doesn't have software patents. Proving that having no software patents increases one's company's ability to compete is left as an exercise.

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[martin-boundary (547041)]

With all the dupes, it's enough to read one's browsing history and predict TFA :)

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[martin-boundary (547041)]

If it's a mathematical algorithm, it should NOT be patentable. I have no objection to Xerox patenting the part where they pay a person to snoop through the web history and make a wild guess while swivelling left and right on their swivel chair (*)

(*) that part wouldn't be very valuable but if they felt it was worth it :)

Most mathematics is nontrivial and highly ingenious, but just because it's non-obvious that still doesn't mean it should be patentable. EVER.

Re:

[Sciros (986030)]

Well it looks like they're accomplishing this using basic pattern recognition. You shouldn't be able to patent something they teach every Comp Sci MPhil in Cambridge.

Re:More lame patents

[Brickwall (985910)]

Geez, anyone who read Peter Wright's "Spycatcher" - published 20 years ago - would realize that this patent is merely a specific implementation of the techniques Wright described in the book. In particular, he developed the idea of monitoring radio communications from the Russian embassy in London. All the transmissions were in code, so he and his colleagues had no idea of the content of the messages. However, Wright deduced that when the Russian "Resident" left the embassy, coded traffic between the embassy and his car would increase. By simply matching the comings and goings of various individuals from the embassy with increases and decreases in radio traffic volume, he and his team were able to pinpoint Russian intelligence agents promptly. (The whole book is a great read, by the way, and available at your local public library, I'm sure.)

In fact, I tried to get Nortel to implement something similar on their Meridian phone systems back in the early 90's. I thought that by tracking internal phone calls through "Call Detail Records" (CDR - which list the calling extension, called extension, date, time, and call duration), we could see patterns of calls between departments, and determine if repetitive patterns existed, such as many calls between sales and billing at specific times of the month, etc. I thought this might help identify operational issues, inefficiencies, etc. Of course, I was blown off.

Anyone want to give me a job?

Re:

[digitalchinky (650880)]

Traffic Analysis. I'm not surprised you were blown off. It's a difficult concept to beat in to middle and upper level management - at least in a way that would make them understand that they can make more money, or simply that you are not going to steal their thunder, but make things better.

You might try applying to one of the 3 letter agencies in your country - these concepts are well established. Given the increasing complexity of communication systems, you might very likely find yourself with a rather re

Obligitory quote...

[avronius (689343)]

I expect you to die, Mr. Bond.

Re:

[Dogtanian (588974)]

In fact, I tried to get Nortel to implement something similar on their Meridian phone systems back in the early 90's. Of course, I was blown off.

That sounds like quite a novel bonus scheme. Was the girl cute, or did they just save money by getting your boss to do it?

Job?

[SkiifGeek (702936)]

What job are you after? Details can be sent to listed email address.

Re:

[baryon351 (626717)]

It sounds obvious, but also stupid.

One reason marketing likes the whole age/sex/race/income thing, is that they can derive from that some possible information about what you might be interested in, in order to market to you. It's not perfect, as not all 16 year old males with wealthy parents will be interested in buying insanely expensive gaming systems, and not all 85 year old women on a pension will want to just email photos of family around, but it works better than guessing.

So, what they're really after

Re:

[Goeland86 (741690)]

Heh, well good luck to them.
I avoid this whole issue by running with Tor. So they're probably going to target some poor chap in China or the middle of Russia as browsing my history.
But now I understand better why I keep getting Japanese versions of eharmony spam mails...
Oh well, such is life. Spam is spam, and spam filters just keep with the flow, and it works for me.
Sorry you uber inquisitive capitalists, I ain't gonna reveal my personality to a corporation just yet. Not until you force me with a brain imp

It'll be used as smoke and mirrors

[Moraelin (679338)]

Aggreed, it is stupid, if your purpose is actually to do marketting with it and sell more products. But my guess is that it's not how it'll get used.

Thing is, if you think about it... it fits just neatly in the eternal 3-way total war, whee the ad provider tries to shaft both the advertising company and the web master, and in most cases the two try to shaft the ad provider too. Tons of useless metrics exist just so the ad provider can tell some company "here's why you owe us a big pile of money for serving

Re:More lame patents

[MillionthMonkey (240664)]

I like this kind of software patent. This isn't like most of these annoying software patents on elementary algorithms that any student of computer science would be expected to discover. This is a patent on an algorithm we would expect only to be discovered by assholes.

What is unfortunate is the fact that asshole companies like Xerox (and its licensees) intend to engage in this particular form of assholish behavior in the first place. But a patent is basically an instrument for preventing people from doing things. If Xerox were granted this one by the PO, it would only play a positive role in the world. It would put Xerox in the position of being able to prevent other asshole companies from mining your browser history for personal data (at least in the fashion described) except under the terms they specify. Conceivably Xerox could prevent anyone from doing it at all simply by not granting licenses. If the EFF had filed this patent with those intentions, none of you would be complaining.

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[QuantumG (50515)]

Oh yes they would. Because what you just did is called rational thought and the Slashdot crowd is not capable of rational thought when it comes to patents.

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[a.ameri (665846)]

Things we wouldn't have (or wouldn't have had as early as we did) if it wasn't for Xerox:

Graphical User Interface
Mouse
Ethernet
Object Oriented programming .....

I know we hate software patensts here and all, but calling Xeros an 'asshole' company only based on a single action, is rather feeble, don't you think?

In order to protect my identity ...

[khasim (1285)]

...I must download more lesbian pr0n.

Get real. This is worthy of a patent? Just by the fact that you're reading this post you're most likely male, some college, etc.

Re:

[nmb3000 (741169)]

you're most likely male, some college,

WHO ARE YOU AND GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!~

etc.

And what, exactly, are you implying?

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[inviolet (797804)]

To really confuse Xerox, you need to shop online for diapers, ladies' undergarments, walking sticks, power glasses and valentine's day cards....

[Marge] "Whatever you've got planned tonight, count me out!"

Remember, kids...

[Atario (673917)]

...pay attention to those tracking cookies [wikipedia.org].

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[ajs318 (655362)]

One of these days, I swear I'll write that cookie-blocker I've been meaning to write since forever. The one that silently swallows all those __utm.*, RMID, h2 and anything that originates from 2o7.net.

Can you patent an illegal process?

[Anonymous Coward]

The patent may well have merit but to be used it would have to break the law. Notwithstanding that governments may keep them for national security reasons, if the law in a country prevents a third party using or selling browsing habits for commercial purposes is it possible to take out a patent that presumes illegal behaviour? Such as a method of extracting money from a bank using a shotgun? Aren't they getting a little ahead of themselves in thier race to the bottom of corporatist fascism? Or is this very revealing patent application telling us that they consider buying the necessary laws to use it a mere formality?

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[joe_cot (1011355)]

Point: quite a bit of spyware is perfectly legal. It's very clear in the EULA for the product it's strapped to, and it has a clear uninstaller (which breaks the program you wanted). Many people will use it anyway to use the program for free, or are just too clueless to notice.

Point: a company does not need to do anything "invasive" to track your browsing habits. Back when DoubleClick had a majority share on banner ads, they could track what websites you went to simply based on the referring url when you got

Re:

[asninn (1071320)]

Point: quite a bit of spyware is perfectly legal. It's very clear in the EULA for the product it's strapped to, and it has a clear uninstaller (which breaks the program you wanted). Many people will use it anyway to use the program for free, or are just too clueless to notice.

That doesn't necessarily make it legal. If someone wants to install a piece of spyware and realises what he's doing, that's fine, of course, but for someone who's too clueless to notice, it's not nearly as clear. I might argue tha

Re:Can you patent an illegal process?

[Ungrounded Lightning (62228)]

Can you patent an illegal process?

Why not?

The law might change to make the process legal before the patent runs out. But you need to patent it right away to establish priority.

Meanwhile you could sue everybody accused of breaking the law in your particular way.

The police do your investigating and the prosecutor does the work of putting the information together for you, too. And the jailers keep the infringer in a known place for your process server. How convenient.

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[ajs318 (655362)]

[I]s it possible to take out a patent that presumes illegal behaviour? Such as a method of extracting money from a bank using a shotgun?

Actually, it would be more fun and profitable to patent methods for being robbed (such as protecting your throat from the deleterious effects of a sharp knife blade by revealing your debit card PIN). Think about it: you don't always catch the perpertrator (and they're a criminal, ergo unlikely to have much respect for the niceties of Intellectual Property law); but y

Xerox must be doing worse than I thought

[StringBlade (557322)]

They used to come up with new and innovative ideas such as, the Xerox copier, a graphical user interface using windows, and a host of other innovate technologies.
Now they've reduced themselves to patent trolling in order to pander to marketing scum. Just, wow.

Xerox, my ass.

[Anonymous Coward]

They've also given name to a photocopy of my buttcheeks.

PC LOAD TP.

Just an application...

[sotweed (118223)]

.. not yet a patent. Look for it as a patent in 2-3 years. Maybe never.

Re:

[justzisguy (573704)]

Whoa there, mister! This is /., you must be new here. We don't take kindly to people distinguishing between patents and published applications. Why, you couldn't even make fun of the USPTO for them (not that there isn't plenty of ammunition elsewhere).

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[mavenguy (126559)]

It's more complicated than that. This is a divisional application of another application which has issued as a patent [uspto.gov]. Furthermore, they filed another divisional application which also has been published. [uspto.gov]

Divisional applications are made when the examiner determines that more than one invention is claimed in an application and requires the applicant to elect one of the inventions to prosecute on the merits. The claims to a non-elected invention(s) are not examined in that application and must be cancelled

This assumes most people passively surf

[tekrat (242117)]

You know, I'm really sick of the whole "Guess your personal needs based on browsing habits". I get this enough from Amazon, recommending crap to me that I don't want, but that I sell to others.

I run a website which sells stuff. Now, it may not be stuff I personally want, but obviously other people do. So, I go through Amazon looking for products to sell. Of course, the advantage is that Amazon recommends items to me that I might sell to the other people reading my site, so it works out, but still, Amazon has a screwed up image of what I want as an individual.

Now imagine all these people who do searches online to find crap to feed their blogs. All the people who scour the internet in search of material for websites, stuff they are going to mention in passing, and then move on.

All the marketing people are going to get is that 50% of the people who surf the web want to see dismemberments via locomotive accidents on YouTube. That's the "vector".

The point I'm trying to make is that only half the people on the internet are the passive surfers this technology would work with. The other half are people who create the content online via looking for content online. (and then there's a small percentage who actually create content, but they don't surf as much).

So, the entire concept to start with is screwed because it assumes that the web is TV.

The whole patent system is phuqued

[kurt555gs (309278)]

Just reading this patent is chilling. How can the Patent Office even consider this as new and inovative when the NSA does this to us already. Hell Xerox might have been the contractor for them using this for all we know, and now want to patent this technique.

This should not be patentable here or anywhere else.

No software should be patentable.

I wait to see the patent for chewing your food thoroughly before swallowing.

Cheers
     

Re:

[kurt555gs (309278)]

True, I was being to PC for here

Use Firefox Add-Ons; don't log into Yahoo! Google

[SpecialAgentXXX (623692)]

I use Firefox's NoScript and AdBlockPlus. Between them both, I've blocked out all of the Yahoo!'s and Google's ad-tracking capabilities (and nearly all ads in general). Without cookies to track from one site to the next, I don't see how this will work unless every site does URL redirection. Also, don't log into Yahoo! or Google, then surf. They can record all of your search queries and tracking via your logged in cookie.

Re:Use Firefox Add-Ons; don't log into Yahoo! Goog

[phantomlord (38815)]

unless every site does URL redirection

I was just going to recommend the Redirect Remover extension for Firefox but it seems to have disappeared from the public site and into the sandbox.

Not too much to worry about

[PatentMagus (1083289)]

Well, they aren't trying to patent statistical analysis or tracking cookies in general, but they are grabbing for a lot. The claims don't look too impressive either. All the claims are too broad without a single super narrow claim that might just get accepted. Maybe the person who wrote the claims didn't understand the math. Double click, some of the old shopping sites, and similar companies must have had this well before the 11/2/2001 priority date. There is nothing in the claims or the application sa

So I'm a wanker

[SpaghettiPattern (609814)]

OK Xerox, so I'm a wanker. Like many of us. I confess. But how the hell are you able to deduct my age from the 2% non-porn related clicks? You'd conclude I have a stamina of a 16 year old and you'd be wrong. Unfortunately.

Not mine, they won't

[ajs318 (655362)]

I have a Squid proxy server set up to block all advertisements. If a site sends me an advertisement, I add it to an ACL which blocks it. The full Squid is a bit overkill for the purpose, though, and I do plan to write my own "mini" proxy server just for advert-blocking (and I'll even add options to have it download the advert and just not display it, so blocking advert-blocker-blockers; and maybe even falsify clicks to distort their figures -- though I'm not sure if this is kikely to make them show me mo

Re:

[ajs318 (655362)]

(1) Even though RAM is cheap, Squid is still a bit overkill just to use as an ad-blocker. And whilst I'm fully aware that a sledgehammer-cracked nut can -- depending upon operator skill -- taste absolutely exquisite, sometimes you just want to pop it in your mouth and swallow it almost before you've had time properly to appreciate the flavour. (2) I don't think Squid can filter cookies, which is another useful feature I have thought about having: no need to be prompted for every cookie just to keep out

"If you patent it, they will buy."

[DynaSoar (714234)]

Many companies continue to use airbrushed pictures, so-called subliminal, in their ads despite the fact that the very concept has been debunked. They do it Just In Case it'll work, and they pay big money for it. The only difference is nowdays they deny they do it.

Same with this. It's probabilistic, meaning is does statistics and guesses. It has more holes in it than I'd allow any of my research methods undergrads get away with on homework: besides multiple people using the same browser, how about people who

TrackMeNot

[TuringTest (533084)]

News like this make you appreciate techniques like TrackMeNot. [computerworld.com]

Well, if they are granted patent....

[Merkwurdigeliebe (1046824)]

That might mean that unless Xerox licese this tech, only they could use it --meaning no-one else could harvest information this way. Hurrah! Here's for hoping, anyway...

Re:So if I'm looking at bestiality pr0n

[Anonymous Coward]

Sheep farmer, Male, Scotland.

Re:

[grolschie (610666)]

hhhmmm... that's weird. My data-mining algorithm produces: "Sheep farmer, Male, Australia". Well, it's not an exact science. :-)

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[Dogtanian (588974)]

Its not our fault sheep can't say no. all they do is stand around baa'ing seductively in our fields

There's one Slashdotter whose signature used to be
"If God didn't want us fucking livestock, why did he make them so sexy?"

Possibly the best "OMG I can't believe you put that in your sig" so far... unfortunately, they changed it. No, it wasn't mine :-O

Re:

[russotto (537200)]

I have mod points. Want my account? Hope you have a brand new 911 turbo in trade.

(oh, wait, I blew it by posting, didn't I? Darn)