Tracking sex: The implications of widespread sexual data leakage and tracking on porn websites
In: New media & society: an international and interdisciplinary forum for the examination of the social dynamics of media and information change, Band 22, Heft 11, S. 2018-2038
ISSN: 1461-7315
This article explores tracking and privacy risks on pornography websites. Our analysis of 22,484 pornography websites indicated that 93% leak user data to a third-party. Tracking on these sites is highly concentrated by a handful of major companies, which we identify. We successfully extracted privacy policies for 3856 sites, 17% of the total. The policies were written such that one might need a 2-year college education to understand them. Our content analysis of the sample's domains indicated 44.97% of them expose or suggest a specific gender/sexual identity or interest likely to be linked to the user. We identify three core implications of the quantitative results: (1) the unique/elevated risks of porn data leakage versus other types of data, (2) the particular risks/impact for "vulnerable" populations, and (3) the complications of providing consent for porn site users and the need for affirmative consent in these online sexual interactions.