An autonomous correlation system correlates user data from a content
provider and advertising view data from an advertising provider, wherein
the user data is present on one autonomous system and the advertising
view data is present on another autonomous system distinct from the one
autonomous system, the systems being autonomous in that each is normally
secured against unconstrained access by another. The autonomous
correlation system comprises logic to accept a first message from a user,
wherein the first message contains an indication of an object being
presented to the user, the object being at least one of a content page
and an advertisement, a first user identifier associated with the user by
a presenter of the object; a reference database for storing an
association between the first user identifier and the user; logic to
accept a second message from the user, wherein the second message
contains an indication of an object being presented to the user, the
object being at least one of a content page and an advertisement, a
second user identifier associated with the user by a presenter of the
object; wherein the reference database stores an association between the
second user identifier and the user.