This column is about TANSTAAFL, which is a term from a book by Robert A. Heinlein (one of the best Science Fiction authors that ever lived) called "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress". The term means "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch". This concept is the basis of the plot of the book, which is about a Lunar penal colony and it's attempt to free itself from Earth domination.
Virtually nothing in this life is truly free. Somewhere, somehow there is surely a hidden cost to anything that you get for nothing. Sometimes it is obvious - you pay directly for the product (that's the best situation because the cost is obvious). Sometimes it is not as obvious, as with ad-supported software. In this case, the money is made by selling ad space on your screen and in front of your eyeballs. Occasionally, as with much freeware, the cost is simply that the author wants people to see that he or she can create code or write or do something useful.
Alexa is a free, ad-based product which installs itself into your Internet Explorer or Netscape browser. It ads a bar which has a series of links into your browser which gives quite a bit of information about each web page that you visit. For example, the contact information, related links, reviews of the site, traffic and some other information is displayed.
Alexa has an additional purpose, however, as is explained in their privacy policy.
"ALEXA COLLECTS AND STORES INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEB PAGES YOU VIEW, THE DATA YOU ENTER IN ONLINE FORMS AND SEARCH FIELDS WHILE USING THE ALEXA SOFTWARE, AND, WITH VERSIONS 5.0 AND HIGHER OF THE BROWSER COMPANION SOFTWARE, THE PRODUCTS YOU PURCHASE ONLINE. ALTHOUGH ALEXA DOES NOT ATTEMPT TO ANALYZE WEB USAGE DATA TO DETERMINE THE IDENTITY OF ANY ALEXA USER, SOME INFORMATION COLLECTED BY THE SOFTWARE IS PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE. ALEXA AGGREGATES AND ANALYZES THE INFORMATION IT COLLECTS TO IMPROVE ITS SERVICE AND TO PREPARE REPORTS ABOUT AGGREGATE WEB USAGE AND SHOPPING HABITS."
So what does this and the remainder of a very long privacy policy translate to in plain English? Alexa watches you surf the internet and transmits the URLs of the sites that you visit back to their computer system. Their stated intention is to build up a list of related links for each page that you visit. They also watch your shopping patterns to get an idea of what you are purchasing online, and presumably where you are purchasing things on the internet.
It's very interesting that Alexa is owned by Amazon.Com, and one of the "great" features of their browser bar is something they call a "shopping feature". This allows Amazon (and other business partners) to offer you comparative shopping advice while you surf through other sites.
Alexa now has a well written and lengthy privacy policy, but it was not always that way. In fact, there is a pending (as of May) class action lawsuit because Alexa didn't have a privacy policy posted on it's website at all. This meant that people who downloaded and installed the bar were not made aware that their movements through the internet were being watched and recorded.
Personally, I am not thrilled by a corporation watching me surf around the internet. I am also not interested in having a robot (albeit an intelligent one) directing me to other shopping sites - this seems to be, well, a little sleezy and unethical. It kind of feels like, well, if I was shopping at the local grocery store and someone was walking around handing out advertisements for the competition. I just don't feel comfortable with this way of doing business.
I view this product as a major threat to privacy. My advice to anyone would be to do without it - the product is not that useful. It is most definitely spyware, although now that Alexa has taken the time to write up a privacy policy at least we are a little more informed as to what they are recording and what they are attempting to accomplish.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.