Interesting article on how Compete.com gets some of its web traffic data. Apparently it’s partially from a popular toolbar that violated its privacy notice.
We were recently pointed to this post from last month by Ben Edelman, a Harvard privacy advocate. In it, he details the data the Upromise toolbar collects and sends out. This toolbar is used by college students looking for savings on various items across the web, and can be quite useful. But until a few weeks ago, it appears they were also sending web browsing and more personal data to Compete without anyone’s knowledge.
via How Does Compete Get Its Web Traffic Data? At Least One Way Sounds Very Sketchy.