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I actually e-mailed to the author a year ago to ask that very question.

Her answer was that she provided her cookie ID to Quantcast and then asked for any data associated with that ID. She also promised me to include that information in the article to prevent confusion, but she never did.

Ironically, Quantcast only knew her real identity after the request.

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This is why I cringe when I read articles like this.

To Quantcast she was just a cookie with some events that ultimately indicated she might like x and has shown interest in buying y.

A cookie to take to live ramp and they tell you all the other “anonymous” ids you have, including those that can identify you. Which is how ads follow across devices, for example. But can be used for any purpose.

How do you get your cookie ID?

DevTools in the browser to inspect cookies?

If you need more help you can write me a mail. I am using these tools (tracking tools as well as developer tools) daily.

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