Universities track web activity of prospective applicants, MU mention.

[muwarrior69]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/14/colleges-quietly-rank-prospective-students-based-their-personal-data/

Does MU do this?

[#UnleashSean]

Every website does this. One of the cases where the title is different then the content

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I’m not sure most schools have an alert sent to an admissions counselor but most schools track who comes to the site and what they are spending their time on. Pretty common these days.

[muwarrior69]

I’m not sure most schools have an alert sent to an admissions counselor but most schools track who comes to the site and what they are spending their time on. Pretty common these days.

But it sounds like they monitor the browsing history of the applicants personal device (ie phone computer).

[4everwarriors]

Ah yes, da bizness of edukasion, hey?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

But it sounds like they monitor the browsing history of the applicants personal device (ie phone computer).

Yes. Almost all commercial websites do this.

[Benny B]

Yes. Almost all commercial websites do this.

"Because Facebook does it" isn't an excuse.

All this presents is another opportunity for someone to game the system.  Instead of bribing the assistant soccer coach, now you just bribe someone in the IT department.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

"Because Facebook does it" isn't an excuse.

All this presents is another opportunity for someone to game the system.  Instead of bribing the assistant soccer coach, now you just bribe someone in the IT department.

Tracking what someone does on your website is neither illegal nor immoral.

[Benny B]

Tracking what someone does on your website is neither illegal nor immoral.

Whatever you say, Zuckerberg. 

[forgetful]

But it sounds like they monitor the browsing history of the applicants personal device (ie phone computer).

I may be reading this wrong, but as I understand it Universities are not monitoring the applicants general browsing history. They are monitoring the browsing history of their University sites.

I find nothing wrong with the latter. The former should be illegal for anyone to do.

[muwarrior69]

I may be reading this wrong, but as I understand it Universities are not monitoring the applicants general browsing history. They are monitoring the browsing history of their University sites.

I find nothing wrong with the latter. The former should be illegal for anyone to do.

Yeah! The article is not exactly clear. I just found this curious however from the article.

Capture Higher Ed spokesman Jim Davidson said the company helps schools provide relevant information to students who have chosen to receive that information. Students can opt out of Web tracking by contacting schools directly, he said..

So it does sound like they are tracking an applicants Web browsing history. If not then why give the student the option to opt out by contacting the school. Again not very clear as to what they are actually doing.

[Galway Eagle]

Yeah! The article is not exactly clear. I just found this curious however from the article.

Capture Higher Ed spokesman Jim Davidson said the company helps schools provide relevant information to students who have chosen to receive that information. Students can opt out of Web tracking by contacting schools directly, he said..

So it does sound like they are tracking an applicants Web browsing history. If not then why give the student the option to opt out by contacting the school. Again not very clear as to what they are actually doing.

The reasoning behind that statement is likely because of GDPR and the California consumer privacy Act. Companies track metrics on their site, it helps them determine where to invest more money, whether selling as space is actually effective, what redesigns need to be done for UX purposes etc. it gets sketchy when they start determining that into whether that student gets accepted.

[muwarrior69]

The reasoning behind that statement is likely because of GDPR and the California consumer privacy Act. Companies track metrics on their site, it helps them determine where to invest more money, whether selling as space is actually effective, what redesigns need to be done for UX purposes etc. it gets sketchy when they start determining that into whether that student gets accepted.

So only schools in CA are required to have students opt out?

[Galway Eagle]

So only schools in CA are required to have students opt out?

I don't know enough about it. But for example GDPR reaches over any EU citizen so best practice for any organization that stores data is to have it be available and deleted upon request. So maybe California's policy is that any website that is visitable in Cali has to make data available or deleted upon request.

[Benny B]

Slippery slope alert....

Next to Facebook, politicians, and the oil companies, college admission recruitment personnel are right up near the top of the ladder of slime.  I’m not sure I’d want to let this go on without some level of oversight, be it the federal gov’t or the accreditation agencies.  Unfortunately, in order to compete these days, higher ed - especially the DIII schools - has resigned itself to hiring people that would throw their own mothers under the bus to get a student to enroll, and it isn’t long before recruitment officers go from negative recruiting to subterfuge... high school seniors aren’t exactly known to have the most savory of browser histories; one conveniently placed cookie by College A later, and College B wakes up one morning to find the subject’s new “friend” boasting about the irrefutable dirt they have on the subject.

Fortunately, unlike private companies and politicians, there’s actually a very easy way to enforce the necessary restrictions on institutions accepting federal money.  Unfortunately you close one door, it won’t solve the systemic problem since these slime balls are just going to go looking for a window.   

[pbiflyer]

I don't know enough about it. But for example GDPR reaches over any EU citizen so best practice for any organization that stores data is to have it be available and deleted upon request. So maybe California's policy is that any website that is visitable in Cali has to make data available or deleted upon request.

This. Most opt for better safe than sorry. If a college accepts European students they fall under the GDPR.

[forgetful]

Slippery slope alert....

Next to Facebook, politicians, and the oil companies, college admission recruitment personnel are right up near the top of the ladder of slime.  I’m not sure I’d want to let this go on without some level of oversight, be it the federal gov’t or the accreditation agencies.  Unfortunately, in order to compete these days, higher ed - especially the DIII schools - has resigned itself to hiring people that would throw their own mothers under the bus to get a student to enroll, and it isn’t long before recruitment officers go from negative recruiting to subterfuge... high school seniors aren’t exactly known to have the most savory of browser histories; one conveniently placed cookie by College A later, and College B wakes up one morning to find the subject’s new “friend” boasting about the irrefutable dirt they have on the subject.

Fortunately, unlike private companies and politicians, there’s actually a very easy way to enforce the necessary restrictions on institutions accepting federal money.  Unfortunately you close one door, it won’t solve the systemic problem since these slime balls are just going to go looking for a window.

Again, I do not believe the cookies/tracking scripts Universities are using allow them to see browsing history. They can only monitor what pages/sites you visit on their own website. Nothing nefarious about that, besides them trying to figure out what the person is actually interested in, and what are the best ways to approach that prospective student.

Now social media uses scripts that allow tracking across many, many sites. For instance, anytime you see a "like" or "share" button on a website, if you are logged into your social media account, they have a record of you visiting that site. That is invasive.

[Galway Eagle]

Again, I do not believe the cookies/tracking scripts Universities are using allow them to see browsing history. They can only monitor what pages/sites you visit on their own website. Nothing nefarious about that, besides them trying to figure out what the person is actually interested in, and what are the best ways to approach that prospective student.

Now social media uses scripts that allow tracking across many, many sites. For instance, anytime you see a "like" or "share" button on a website, if you are logged into your social media account, they have a record of you visiting that site. That is invasive.

They could track what site a person arrived from if they clicked a banner ad or something to that effect. But pretty much agree with what you're saying.