Web sites and spying on your browsing

[LilloEsquilo]

Well I really am not crazy after all. Today, I was doing a search (using Google) of a certain product, not one I've ever searched on before and as I'm looking at the NFL scores on Yahoo, lo and behold, those very items pop up in the ad windows on that site.

Coincidence? Hell no. These sites are actively spying on your browsing and using that information, to market to you and who knows what else?

Same thing with gmail - I watched as ads displayed on gmail using things I typed into the message body of emails I was composing on there. It even spies on what you send as email.

Now you are probably thinking well of COURSE they do this is a free country, you are getting "free" email from them so what right do you have to complain they have the right to do whatever they feel like with that email because they pay for it. And if you feel that way, I offer you a hearty and respectful Heil. Maybe they do, for the email, but does that also give them the right to spy on my searching if I use their search engine? Do they have the right to say sift through files on my computer, even if it's not related to any of this, just because a security loophole allows them to, and if they do, how is that any different that if I were to exploit a security loophole to hack into their servers, which would get me arrested if I were caught?

I say no, but what I say probably matters little.

Now to get to the solution to these problems (if you agree they are problems in the first place, if you don't care by all means let them spy on you). Firefox 4.0 or greater has an option to block this spying on your browsing nonsense. It can be found options, then privacy, then tracking, it's a checkbox that says "tell websites I do not want to be tracked". Check that, under "history" set it to never remember history. Clear your browsing history (assuming you have everything you visit regularly in "bookmarks") and be sure not to clear cookies and saved passwords and such. Then you are done with them spying on your browsing. Now you might think well Google will track what you browse on their search engine (and probably the others as well) and that is true, however, sites will not be able to tell what you have visited.

And also use a client (like outlook, thunderbird or whatever your choice is) to get and send your email from your internet provider so the "free" services can't snoop into what you are emailing, I mean seriously, who knows who they sell this stuff or give this stuff to?

And you may think well gee can't someone use a packet sniffer and get my email anyway? Sure they can, along with all the other junk that goes out on the internet, but who has that kind of time, it wouldn't be worth the effort, and you can encrypt your emails anyway (and should for anything truly sensitive, it's not worth it for hey mom what's up).

Hopefully this helps people. We have a real epidemic of being spied on these days, with our government watching so many public places with cameras everywhere (a lot like some sci-fi films) to spying on our emails and chat rooms, and now corporate America getting into the act for profit. Anyway I can fight back against that, I want to, we'll never get our civil rights back, once they are gone they are gone, but we better fight to keep what little we have left and not give that up so cheaply, or pretty soon we'll be calling each other "comrade".

[HEIST]

Yeah the ads on TB are always shoes, jewellery or camera gear for me. I don't feel that strongly against them 'spying', though.

[::::BASSIST::::]

I have all ads blocked on TB. I even managed to block those annoying ads on the bottom of the screen on youtube. Those really drove me nuts.

I probably still get spied on though. I dont mind that (I definitely dont like it though) as much as I mind having viruses and spyware on my computer. There is a great program called Deep Freeze that deletes everything not on your specified partrition upon boot-up. I really want to buy that.

[Papa Dangerous]

Yeah, google is a bunch of crap. I did not find this out until after I signed a two year agreement for my android phone.

They have their location abilities to know where ever you are going, they even have the ability to turn on your webcam just "to listen" to conversations so they know what to sell you.

Notice how everything is becoming google based? I refuse to ever check out that google+ crap. The facebook of google.. great... that is going to be even worse than fb constantly changing privacy rights in hopes that some fool does not know what they are doing and just allows all their info to be available.

I hate that youtube has ads on it. Great, youtube is free and has access to so many videos, but *** am I paying for internet service for?

I remember the purpose of cable tv was for more channels AND there were no commercials. Now there is a commercial every damn second.

Everything is about making more and more money on the simple person. Go ahead and steal my browsing information - advertising does not make me want to buy stuff. It actually aggravates me enough that I purposely avoid those products.

This is just another example of big brother. I am sure there will be a day where rules and regulations will no longer exist, than big brother and his holding company will be weak. One day.... one day...

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by ::::BASSIST::::

I have all ads blocked on TB. I even managed to block those annoying ads on the bottom of the screen on youtube. Those really drove me nuts..

Please tell us how you did this?

[::::BASSIST::::]

I use Firefox browser and they have an app called adblock plus. You tell it what to block. I cannot remember exactly how I did it on youtube, but I think was using adblock plus as well. If you do a search on youtube 'block google ads' (how ironic!) there are lots of tutorials. Some are out of date though.

[ulrich]

I have a full tinfoil hat of extensions on Firefox 6.0.1. It's hard to tell how much good they do, because, thanks to Adblock plus, I don't see ads on TB, or anywhere else.

Extensions I wouldn't browse without:
NoScript
BetterPrivacy
Ghostery
Trackmenot
Redirect Cleaner
cookie monster

I wish I could just switch annoying animated ads, for plain text ads. I don't mind supporting website sponsors.

EDIT: FWIW Ghostery is blocking 6 trackers on this page.

EDIT2: I use ccleaner several times a day to securely wipe cookies, cache, etc.

[L-A]

Hey, if it's free, then *you* are the product.

Besides, there is a page on Google Accounts where you can choose what kind of products you want to see in contextual ads when logged in. It means more relevancy in your ads, and better targeting for Google's advertisers. I see it as a win-win, considering all the free services I'm getting.

(I'm still running AdBlock to clean pages up)

[Papa Dangerous]

I just went to look something up via google (I really do not know I still use it...) clicked a link that would give the location of something I was searching, and up at the top of the page is an ad using my fb information, telling me to like the product. THAT is just very much beyond annoying.

[Longhair]

Do you have cookies enabled in your browser?

If yes, then that is how all the ads are relevant to your browsing history. Mass acceptance of facebook has broken down the walls of privacy on the Internet.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by Longhair

Do you have cookies enabled in your browser?

If yes, then that is how all the ads are relevant to your browsing history. Mass acceptance of facebook has broken down the walls of privacy on the Internet.

What's facebook?

[Longhair]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

What's facebook?

located at the bottom of the page.

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by Longhair

located at the bottom of the page.

I think he was being sarcastic.

[ehque]

Originally Posted by Papa Dangerous

I hate that youtube has ads on it. Great, youtube is free and has access to so many videos, but *** am I paying for internet service for?

Wait, you actually think that youtube should be ad-free because you pay for your internet service?

Do you also think that gas should be free if you buy a car?

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by ehque

Do you also think that gas should be free if you buy a car?

Hey, I am totally down with that.

[MJ5150]

I like the convenience of being tracked online. It helps me remember the webpages I have been to and the things I was shopping/searching for.

If I'm fixing to buy a pair of Carhartt jeans, and I get an ad showing them to me for less from another site, thank you Google. I won't spite you for helping me save some money.

-Mike

[MatticusMania]

Well then, someone out there knows that Im on TalkBass all throughout the workday, that my wife and I are goers, and that I look up random trivial facts about celebrities and pop culture when the wife and I are in disagreement.

Perhaps they could use that info to blackmail me into something...

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

Hey, I am totally down with that.

Im pretty sure anyone who has ever bought a car is down with that!

Ive heard of some dealers offering like a years worth of gas when purchasing certain models of new cars.