45% said they clear cookies at least once a month. The average was once a week. "For work and home, this behavior was consistent," Harmon explains. Many may not be using browser tools to remove cookies, but rather "spyware" and "computer hygiene" tools that have become more popular as the public worries about unauthorized snooping on their online activities.
The implications are obvious. "If a user is clearing cookies once a week from home, the Web sites he or she visits are counting many people at home as four different unique users over the course of a month," Harmon says. "The unique user numbers are vastly inflated, but at the same time, frequency of visiting is undercounted."
posted by Jen @ 6:02 AM
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