Personal privacy and the Internet have been on a collision course since users first logged on in the 1990s.

The rise of social media in recent years, however, has dramatically increased the amount of personal information posted online. Meanwhile, networking sites have become ever more resourceful at tracking our activities and habits on the Internet.

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The result is companies are collecting much more “data” on you than you ever realized.

Most computer users know that when they visit a website, the owners of that site are able to detect the visit and may even record something about who you are or where you live.

But did you know that when you visit Facebook, the media giant is tracking what other sites you visit, as well?

Tracking is done not only while you are logged on to Facebook, but also after you have logged off. It also includes both Facebook members and those who have just visited Facebook.

What do they do with all this information?

Facebook officials say it is used only to boost security for its sites and the performance of related sites. Many of the other big players in online advertising — Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Yahoo — use tracking to help target advertising to users, but Facebook maintains it does not do that.

The potential is there to aggregate information about our shopping patterns, our health concerns, religious beliefs, political leanings and more — all ready to be sold to other businesses and organizations for whatever purpose they might have.

The public deserves to know when they are being tracked and how they can stop it.

— Herald-Dispatch,

Huntington, W.Va., Nov. 20