Tracking users

[shadowayex]

I was wondering if there was a way to snag what page a user was going to before they get there. Like if a user goes somewhere, is there a way, via onunload or something of that nature, to figure out where they are going?I doubt such a thing exists, but I thought I'd ask.

[Synook]

No. If it was possible, that would be very bad for security .

[Ingolme]

It's called "tracking cookie."The concept is simple: You have your ads on as many pages as possible, and every time a user visits a page containing your ad, your ad checks for a cookie so that you know where the user has been. I believe this is illegal, and spyware programs delete tracking cookies since they're considered malicious content.In general, the user has a right to privacy, you shouldn't know what pages they want to visit.

[shadowayex]

I figured as much. Someone wanted me to build them a system that would track users for some reason or another. I told him there would probably be quite a bit of legal issues with that concept, and that I doubted there would be a way to even do it.Thanks.

[Fmdpa]

There is a way to do this. Just create a search engine, like Google. You will be able to find anything out about users. You may not know how well Google knows you. They save your search queries, the youtube videos you watch, the GoogleAds you click on, and MUCH more. Also, most websites have Google Analytics so they can get information from many websites also! Then they can catalog this information under your IP address. Of course, it can be used usefully (and very cleverly) in search results and choosing ads to target you.