Comments on: How Exactly Websites Track And Stalk You With Their Ads

By: dragonmouth

dragonmouth — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:59:16 +0000

The only computer that is 100% secure is the one that is disconnected from Internet and power. However, that defeats the purpose of having a computer.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:04:24 +0000

“Google sends some of your information to that site as well: the search query that you used, your current browser, and some of your computer specifications.”

I think this line might need revision/clarification. Google doesn’t send search queries in a growing portion of cases, when users are logged in or using encrypted search (which browsers like Firefox are implementing by default). For more information on this, look for articles about “keyword not provided” showing up in Analytics and Google’s announcements from October 2011. It seems typical for websites to find that in the neighborhood of 15% of their traffic referred from Google no longer includes the search terms.

I’m pretty sure, also, that Google doesn’t send your current browser or computer specs to websites you find through search — that’s actually your web browser/computer that send that data directly to the website.

The major gist of the article, though, is correct. :)

By: Pablo Vargas

Pablo Vargas — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:30:55 +0000

Well, nothing new to me here, but nice that you are making other people aware of how things are done.

By: Tug Ricks

Tug Ricks — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:12:32 +0000

That’s why I’m a big fan of Ghostery. At the very least it makes me feel as if I have a bit more control over the information that I give to websites.

By: Joel Lee

Joel Lee — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:59:01 +0000

Very interesting that a LACK of ads is now unconcerting! My, how far we’ve come as an Internet-centric society…!

By: Joel Lee

Joel Lee — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:06:45 +0000

Thanks. Glad you could be enlightened. :)

By: Joel Lee

Joel Lee — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:06:04 +0000

Everything free always comes with a cost.

By: C Dockery

C Dockery — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 05:20:10 +0000

Wow! I only thought my privacy was secured. Thanks. Your article is a real eye opener.

By: junbug20

junbug20 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:27:05 +0000

There is also start-page.com, they don’t track you either.

By: Paranoid

Paranoid — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:43:06 +0000

An alternative, but more technical, is to use a text-based browser like Lynx, an oldie but goodie from way back in 1992. Richard Stallman himself is a proponent and user of text-based browsers. Besides being useful for webmasters and other coders to inspect the underlying “skeleton” of a particular site, text-based browsers are also helpful for persons with visual difficulties or other sensory impairments, who may have difficulty navigating the visual Web. In fact, in the days before images and other media were commonplace online, text-based browsers were basically the standard.

But because text-based browsers only download text and not images or external scripts, they cannot download advertisements or be exposed to other tracking mechanisms either. It’s like browsing the Internet with Notepad where everything is no-frills and you’re pretty much reduced to pure HTML or plain text. It’s not glamorous, certainly not, and I think the majority of the public have sort of gotten used to the Internet as a pretty candy store with flashing lights and a colorful interface. Obviously, this means not all (perhaps most) sites will work in a text-based browser, but it is certainly an option.

MUO should test out Lynx if it hasn’t already and write a review and howto. Definitely not for the uninitiated but well worth a look. (Kind of like how Google and Zuckface feel about your underwear buying habits!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_%28web_browser%29

http://lynx.isc.org/ (project homepage)

By: Petey Pabler

Petey Pabler — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:49:22 +0000

There is also the “InPrivate Browsing” feature in Internet Explorer 9. Again, not the answer but if you are worried about every single site, you can start there. It’s only hang up is that it doesn’t store anything from your side either (Passwords, cookies, etc.) There are also methods of “spoofing” your IP address, which I don’t recommend. Other than that, we can all assume our privacy is pretty much gone.

By: Red

Red — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:25:56 +0000

Ahm, about DuckDuckGo and not tracking. I put in !gi duck, a nice safe search for pictures of Ducks on Google. Press the button and what do I get? It takes me to Google, lots of pictures of Ducks….and there at the top of the page it shows I am signed in. Surely this means that although DuckDuckGo may not be tracking you, the place it sends you to almost certainly is. Not so?

Imagine if I had requested MegaPorn as a search term!

By: john

john — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 06:39:26 +0000

doesn’t the incognito mode in chrome block it as well?

By: tarzan2001

tarzan2001 — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 00:49:13 +0000

Apart from the flash video ads that starting playing automatically with the sound ON, I don’t mind most ads on sites, and usually just ignore them out of habit. However, it does seem a bit creepy when you’ve been shopping for a particular item, and then all of a sudden you see advertisements for it or related items in random places on the internet! :S

By: Yang Yang Li

Yang Yang Li — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 23:37:06 +0000

The first thing I wondered after reading a bit is: how does DuckDuckGo make money? I searched this with DuckDuckGo but only received a Wikipedia link that said they made $110,000 in 2011. When I searched this issue on Google, I got an article ON DuckDuckGo that told me the two ways they make money.
Through sponsored links and affiliate sales.
They still have a way to go in terms of quality search results. But I do not really care about that. I use Bing because it is pretty.
Also, DuckDuckGo makes me claustrophobic due to the missing ads that I am so used to. My brain has developed its own adblock and without anything to block #ERROR# #LOOP_SHUTDOWN# #ZZZ#