 |
| HISTORY OF WEB PAGE (WWW: World Wide Web) |
Web browsing history
Artwork related to browser history
- The invention of the World Wide Web (1989-1990): Tim Berners-Lee, a
computer scientist at CERN, developed the concept of the World Wide Web.
He created the first web browser, called WorldWideWeb (later renamed
Nexus), and the first web server. This marked the beginning of the web
page era.
- HTML and Web Standards: In 1990, Berners-Lee introduced Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML), the standard language used to create web pages.
HTML provided a structured way to format and present information on web
pages, including text, images, and hyperlinks.
- Mosaic Web Browser (1993): Mosaic, developed by a team led by Marc
Andreessen at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA),
was the first widely used graphical web browser. Mosaic played a
significant role in popularizing the World Wide Web and making web pages
more visually appealing.
- Rise of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): In 1996, the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) introduced CSS, a language that allowed web developers to
separate the presentation and layout of web pages from the HTML structure.
CSS enabled more flexible and consistent styling, making it easier to
create visually appealing web pages.
- Web 2.0 (2000s): The term "Web 2.0" emerged to describe
the shift towards dynamic and interactive web pages. Web 2.0 emphasized
user-generated content, social media, and the use of web applications.
Websites like Wikipedia, YouTube, and Facebook exemplified this era.
- Responsive Web Design: With the increasing use of mobile devices,
responsive web design became crucial. Ethan Marcotte coined the term in
2010, emphasizing the importance of designing web pages that can adapt and
provide optimal viewing experiences across different screen sizes and
devices.
- HTML5 and Modern Web Technologies: HTML5, introduced in 2014,
brought new features and capabilities to web pages, including multimedia
support, improved forms, canvas for graphics, and better integration with
mobile devices. It also marked the decline of Flash, a technology
previously used for multimedia content.
- Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): PWAs combine the best features of web
pages and mobile apps. They offer offline functionality, push
notifications, and the ability to be installed on a user's home screen.
PWAs provide a more app-like experience and have gained popularity in
recent years.
- Web Accessibility: The focus on web accessibility has increased over
time, aiming to ensure that web pages and content are usable by people
with disabilities. Guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG), have been developed to promote inclusive web design
practices.
- Advances in Web Technologies: The evolution of web pages continues
with advancements in technologies like JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React,
Angular, Vue.js), server-side languages (e.g., PHP, Python, Ruby), and
content management systems (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Joomla), enabling
developers to create more complex and dynamic web pages.
The history of web pages is intertwined with the broader
history of the World Wide Web itself. Each milestone represents advancements in
design, interactivity, and accessibility, shaping the way we create and
experience web pages today.
Web browsing history refers to the list of web pages a user has visited, as well as associated metadata such as page title and time of visit. It is usually stored locally by web browsers in order to provide the user with a history list to go back to previously visited pages. It can reflect the user's interests, needs, and browsing habits.
Applications
Local history
Locally stored browsing history can
facilitate rediscovering lost previously visited web pages of which one only
has a vague memory in mind, or pages difficult to find due to being located
within the deep web. Browsers also utilize it to enable autocompletion in
their address bar for quicker and more convenient navigation to
frequently visited pages.
The retention span of browsing history
varies per internet browser. Mozilla Firefox (desktop version)
records history indefinitely by default inside a file named places.SQLite, but automatically erases the earliest
history upon exhausted disk space, while Google Chrome (desktop version)
stores history for ten weeks by default, automatically pruning earlier entries.
An indefinite history file named Archived History was once recorded, but has been
removed and automatically deleted in version 37, released in September 2014.
Targeted advertising
Targeted advertising means presenting
the user with advertisements that are more relevant to one based on one's
browsing history. A typical example is a user receiving advertisements on shoes
when browsing other websites after searching for shoes on shopping websites.
One research shows that targeted advertising doubles the conversion rate of
classical online advertising.
Real-time bidding (RTB) is the
method used behind targeted advertising. It is a system that automatically bids
up the price for presenting advertisements on certain websites. Advertisers
decide how much they are willing to pay based on the target audience of the
websites. Therefore, more information about the users could encourage
advertisers to pay higher prices. The information of users, such as
browsing history, is provided to all firms that are involved in the bidding. Since
it is a real-time process, information is usually collected without the consent
of the user and transferred in an unencrypted form. The user has very limited
knowledge of how their information is collected, stored, and used.
The response of the user towards targeted
advertising depends on whether one knows the information is being collected. If
the user already knows that the information is being collected ahead of time,
the targeted advertisement could potentially create a positive effect, leading
to a higher intention of clicking through the link. However, if the user
is not informed about information collection, one would be more concerned with
privacy. This will decrease one's intention of clicking through the link. Meanwhile, when the user considers the website reliable, it is more possible for them to
click through the link and accept the personalization service.
To solve the conflicts between privacy
and profits, one newly proposed system is pay-per-tracking. A broker exists
between users and advertisers. Users could decide whether to provide their
personal information to the broker and then the broker would send the personal
information offered by users to advertisers. Meanwhile, users could receive
monetary rewards for sharing their personal information. This could help
protect privacy and tracking efficiency but would lead to extra costs.
Personalized pricing
Personalized pricing is based on the
idea that if a user purchases a certain product frequently or pays a higher
price for that product, the user could be charged a higher price for this
product. Web browsing history could give reliable predictions on the purchasing
behaviors of users. When using personalized pricing, the profit of firms could
increase by 12.99% compared to status quo cases.
Research
Web browsing history could be used to
facilitate research, such as revealing the browsing behavior of people. When a
user browses extensively on one site, the probability of requesting an
additional page increases. When a user visits more sites, the likelihood of
requesting extra pages reduces.
Privacy
Concerns
Web browsing history stored locally is
not published anywhere publicly by default. However, almost all the websites
are tracked by adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)
which collect users' information without their consent. These tracking
methods are usually allowed by platforms by default. Web browsing history
is also collected by cookies on websites, which could be divided into two
kinds, first-party cookies, and third-party cookies. Third-party
cookies are usually embedded on first-party websites and collect information
from them. Third-party cookies have higher efficiency and data aggregation
ability than first-party cookies. While first-party cookies only have access to
users' data on one website, third-party cookies could combine data collected
from different websites to make the image of the user more complete. Meanwhile,
several third-party cookies could exist on the same website.
When third-party cookies collect the web browsing history of users from multiple websites, more information leads to more privacy concerns. For example, a user browses news on one website and searches for medical information on the other website. When the web browsing history from these two websites is combined, the user may be considered interested in news related to medical topics. When browsing history from different websites is combined, it could reflect a more complete image of the person.
Scandals
Logo of Avast
In 2006, AOL released a
large amount of data on its users, including search history. Although no user
IDs or names were included, users could be identified based on the browsing
history released. For example, user No. 4417749 was identified with her
search history over three months.
In 2020, Avast, a popular
antivirus software, has been accused of selling browsing history to third
parties. It is under preliminary investigation of this accusation by officials
of the Czech Republic. The report shows that Avast sold users' data through
Jumpshot, a marketing analytics tool. Avast claimed that the user's personal
information was not included in the leak. However, browsing history could be
used to identify users. Avast shut down Jumpshot as a reply to this issue.
Protection
When the user feels there is a risk to
privacy, one's intention of disclosing personal information will be lower, but
the actions are not affected. However, some studies find that there is no
significant difference between the intention and the actions of disclosing
private information, meaning the user will reduce actions of sharing personal
information and take more protection measures when feeling concerned about
privacy. When users have privacy concerns, they would make less use of
online services. They would also make more protection measures such as
refusing to offer their information, offering false information, removing their
information online, and complaining to people around them or relevant
organizations.
However, it is hard for users to
protect their privacy due to multiple reasons. First, users do not have enough
privacy awareness. They are not concerned about being tracked unless
there are substantial impacts on them. They are also not aware of how their
data contains commercial values. It is generally difficult for users to
notice privacy policy links on all kinds of websites, with female users and
older users, being more likely to ignore these notices. Even when users notice
privacy links, their information disclosure may not be affected. In
addition, users are also not equipped with enough technical knowledge to
protect themselves even when they notice privacy leakage. They are placed on
the passive side with little room to change the situation.
Most users make use of ad
blockers, delete cookies, and avoid websites that collect personal information
to try to protect their web browsing history from being collected. However,
most ad blockers do not offer enough guidance to users to help them improve
their privacy awareness. More importantly, they rely on a standard black-and-white
list. These lists do not usually include the websites that are tracking
users. Ad blockers could only be effective if these tracking domains are
blocked.
){kind=link}
0 Comments