With the nearly ubiquitous presence of the Internet, Americans can explore various online communities through the anonymity of their web browsers.

Access to different perspectives and communities sounds like the beginning of an age of increased social justice, but web browsing has lead to a new form of discrimination: data discrimination.

Data discrimination’s most potent quality is its subtlety. Unlike more obvious forms of discrimination, this new breed is quiet, reserved, and frighteningly, often useful.

For example, if you give a darkly stylish, teen-friendly store such as Hot Topic a “like” on Facebook, the info will be saved and you’ll be targeted with similar teen-oriented shopping advertisements or a banner ad to the next Tim Burton movie.

This almost seems helpful, because it feels as if the Internet is being crafted for your experience, but the frightening aspect is the information cannot be removed and companies can easily target you based on your race or sexual orientation.

“Computer software inferred with 88 percent accuracy whether a male Facebook user was homosexual or heterosexual – even if that person chose not to explicitly reveal that information,” according to a study conducted by The Guardian. “[They achieved] 75 percent accuracy for predicting drug use.”

Facebook claims people will not lose control over the ads they see, but everything posted on Facebook is still saved to the company’s servers.

Data discrimination also plays a part in redlining, which is a practice similar to gerrymandering or simply discriminating against people based on where they live.

“Redlining is the figurative or literal process of drawing red lines around areas to which lenders refuse to make loans,” according to Dr. Amy Hillier, an assistant professor in city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

This practice is echoed in data discrimination, because it creates a generalization about you without your knowledge. This could lead to one person receiving offers another is not made privy to.

Overall, data discrimination is the new millennium’s form of social persecution, taking your web searches and using them to pigeonhole you into particular social strata.

The web surfing experience of internet users may vary wildly, depending on what their social status is perceived to be.

If you have ever hit the delete button out of fear of siblings finding your previous searches, rest assured advertising corporations are much more likely to find that information than your kid brothers are.