What kinds of information can Web sites gather about their visitors?
The detail of observation possible online is much more exhaustive than in the real world. For example, in a physical bookstore, the store can gather a list of what books you purchase (assuming you don’t pay cash). Online they gather all purchases, your home address and credit card number, all the books you merely browsed, and the amount of time spent browsing each book. It is like being followed around the store with a camera over your shoulder. Web Analytic tools make it possible for any Web administrator to identify specific IP addresses, domain names, and geographic locations of visitors and to follow visitor activity; analyzing individual surfing behavior, tracking the pages within the site that are most frequently accessed, and the files that are downloaded, etc. It is this aspect of functionality that can in turn be used to build a detailed psychographic profile based on your purchases and online tracks.
