Privacy Lost in Online Education: Analysis of Web Tracking Evolution

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Digital tracking poses a significant and multifaceted threat to personal privacy and integrity. Tracking techniques, such as the use of cookies and scripts, are widespread on the World Wide Web and have become more pervasive in the past decade. This paper focuses on the historical analysis of tracking practices specifically on educational websites, which require particular attention due to their often mandatory usage by users, including young individuals who may not adequately assess privacy implications. The paper proposes a framework for comparing tracking activities on a specific domain of websites by contrasting a sample of these sites with a control group consisting of sites with comparable traffic levels, but without a specific functional purpose. This comparative analysis allows us to evaluate the distinctive evolution of tracking on educational platforms against a standard benchmark. Our findings reveal that although educational websites initially demonstrated lower levels of tracking, their growth rate from 2012 to 2021 has exceeded that of the control group, resulting in higher levels of tracking at present. Through our investigation into the expansion of various types of trackers, we suggest that the accelerated growth of tracking on educational websites is partly attributable to the increased use of interactive features, facilitated by third-party services that enable the collection of user data. The paper concludes by proposing ways in which web developers can safeguard their design choices to mitigate user exposure to tracking.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvanced Data Mining and Applications : 19th International Conference, ADMA 2023, Shenyang, China, August 21–23, 2023, Proceedings
EditorsXiaochun Yang, Heru Suhartanto, Guoren Wang, Bin Wang, Jing Jiang, Bing Li, Huaijie Zhu, Ningning Cui
Number of pages15
Volume2
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer, Cham
Publication date2023
Pages440-455
ISBN (Print)9783031466632
ISBN (Electronic)9783031466649
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
SeriesLecture Notes in Computer Science
ISSN0302-9743

ID: 372622839