Interesting thread,

AddThis is certainly everywhere (5 percent of the top 100,000
websites--ProPublica), often in contrast to an organization's stated
privacy policies.

Here's three examples of use within OCLC and their products:
http://oclc.org/research/people/follow.html
ContentDM: http://www.contentdm.org/help6/custom/configure9.asp
WorldCat.org:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/jazz/oclc/25048293&referer=brief_results

For kicks I just did a Google Advanced search for AddThis limited to the
.edu domain, wow.

What is the alternative for libraries looking to promote their services out
into the polluted ocean of the internet where everyone else is swimming?

--Jimmy





On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 2:33 PM, Gary McGath <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> On 8/13/14 1:22 PM, Eric Hellman wrote:
> > It seems that Code4Lib hasn't discussed this., though the news is 2
> weeks old. It seems that there are libraries using social share tools from
> AddThis", a company that has been using a technology called "Canvas
> Fingerprinting" to track users.
> >
> > In other words, it looks like libraries are giving away the user-privacy
> store.
> >
> > For example, AddThis is used by my public library's Polaris catalog
> (BCCLS).
> >
> > I'd be interested to learn how widespread this is.
>
> It's pretty widespread in general, but I don't know how many libraries
> are using it, or why.
>
> It's a concern regardless of absolute numbers, because it targets people
> who are concerned about being tracked and have taken steps to make
> cookies less effective. (For example, I discard cookies at the end of
> each browser session, making long-term tracking ineffective.)
>
> It isn't "virtually impossible to block"; mapping addthis.com on the
> client computer to 127.0.0.1 (using /etc/hosts on Linux and Unix
> machines) does a nice job of it. But anyone who uses it really is
> betraying the user's trust.
>
>
> --
> Gary McGath, Professional Software Developer
> http://www.garymcgath.com
>



-- 
Jimmy Ghaphery
Head, Digital Technologies
VCU Libraries
804-827-3551