IP addresses and personal information (was Re: [LINK] Fwd: On Line Opinion - 16 February 2007)

[Irene Graham]

On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:15:07 +1100, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> Howard Lowndes wrote:
> <snip>
>>> b)how they derive gender and lifestyle attributes (but maybe this
>>> is on the basis of the sites visited as a class and that it doesn't
>>> matter whether the person is really a girl)
>>
>>
>> What you're implying here, and I agree with you, is that the
>> demographics that they supply to their clients aren't worth a brass
>> razoo in terms of their accuracy.
>>
>
> not exactly. I am suggesting the labels are creative and used to
> classify people which is a widespread practice.
>
> Seniors, Young People, Wage Earners, Aspirational, Professional by
> trying to classify their interests/behaviour/expenditure pattern. 

What I do not understand is how can they classify web site visitors into 
those or any other categories -if- they are only collecting completely 
anonymised information from ISPs?

Irene