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Tracking the Web Trackers
itwbennett writes "Do you know what data the 1300+ tracking companies have on you? Privacy blogger Dan Tynan didn't until he had had enough of being stalked by grandpa-friendly Jitterbug phone ads. Tracking company BlueKai and its partners had compiled 471 separate pieces of data on him. Some surprisingly accurate, some not (hence the Jitterbug ad). But what's worse is that opting out of tracking is surprisingly hard. On the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out Page you can ask the 98 member companies listed there to stop tracking you and on Evidon's Global Opt Out page you can give some 200 more the boot — but that's only about 300 companies out of 1300. And even if they all comply with your opt-out request, it doesn't mean that they'll stop collecting data on you, only that they'll stop serving you targeted ads."
Give us a list of all companies and their affili-shit domains and I'll block them. I'll even add them to my 'Hosts' file just to make apk happy.
You could be using Tor, or surfing through a proxy, denying cookies, etc.
Why make it easy for them?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Enough to drive an honest man to fraud.
Ghostery (Firefox plugin) allows you to block these trackers, it works great and you can also see when sites are loading the tracking code.
Who watches the Watchmen?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Disable third party cookies in your browser.
Does anyone know how he got the data they had on him? I'm looking at the opt out pages he listed and I don't see data recovery functions.
And even if they all comply with your opt-out request, it doesn't mean that they'll stop collecting data on you, only that they'll stop serving you targeted ads."
That line is the most important part of the story. The phrase "opt out" has been redefined by the marketers. You can not opt out of being tracked, you can only opt out of being reminded that you are being tracked. That is more than useless because it defuses the people most likely to be unhappy about these trackers with a false sense of safety.
Your only way to avoid being tracked is not to ever talk to the trackers in the first place. For the less technically inclined, the Ghostery plugin for firefox is pretty much set it and forget it. If you can handle looking underneath the hood of the internet, check out Request Policy which gives you extremely fine grained control over what stuff a webpage can pull in from other webservers. I default block all cross-site includes from other domains and white-list them on an individual basis and it really isn't too inconvenient. Besides the privacy benefits, it makes web pages load super fast when they don't have to pull in crap from 15 other servers.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
1.) Install Ghostery. 2) Install AdBlock Plus. 3) Only accept cookies from sites you trust, and for best results clean those out regularly.
You can go the extra mile with NoScript, Tor, and so on, but even just doing Ghostery and turning off third-party cookies will knock out much of the problem.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I use some domain blocking entries, plus a hosts file from http://pgl.yoyo.org/as/serverlist.php?showintro=0;hostformat=hosts on my router, with local DNS enabled. It redirects about 2500 URLs to 127.0.0.1. DD-WRT for the win! I would imagine other third-party firmware allows this, too. When I have company, they sometimes comment how much better the web pages look and how fast they load on their laptops when they use my AP. They also wonder why Facebook and Twitter don't work... :-)
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. It only affects the people around you. Same thing when you're stupid.
On Linux, using Firefox or Chrome, I use Adblock+, which does a pretty good job.
In a separate tab, I have collusion show me the sites that are linked to those that I visit. When I see a site that I don't like, I add it to a hosts file that I downloaded. There are an amazing amount of websites that exist at 127.0.0.1.
Releasing your IP and using another, or switching service providers will also throw off advertisers, but you just might end up with someone else's identity.
Warning - If you use Windows and modify the hosts file, it (Windows Defender?) thinks that the redirects are the result of malware activity. Then again, if you are using Windows as your primary OS, odds are you don't know what I am talking about.
So many ads on this guys site, that I couldn't read the whole thing, that ads were distracting me
I had a few users at work that were spending too much time on facebook, etc. and management asked me to block it except during breaks. So I fire up an old box and put squid on it and tell AD to force them to proxy through it.
I then did a tail -f on the /var/log/squid3/access.log file and howdy boy do some sites have a lot of crap called when you load a page. Even our small town local newspaper site would call up about 30 different domains on each page load. Some of them would put a java script in to refresh each minute to see how long one stayed on the page.
Now I see why I run no-script and ABP on my boxes.
I started blocking a lot of them but real work called and I'm guessing that I only got about a third of them.
The unfortunate thing is almost all the stuff on the web these days has a no-cache flag so running a proxy for web-cache/bandwidth reduction is almost useless. I only get about 2% cache hits.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
"But while Ghostery is a valuable tool for the privacy-obsessed, Evidon is savvy enough to know that it can’t make money solely by blocking tracking cookies. So, the company had a smart and somewhat devious idea: Why not take its trove of data and sell it to the very companies Ghostery users are blocking?"
link
If you use a different browser or delete your cookies, your back in. Best just use a HOSTS file and say screw it
to sites that ask you to receive ads. I am starting to see thank you for not using Adware banners but blocking most of the ads.
HOSTS files don't protect vs. IP addressed adbanners (rare) &/or IP address utilizing malwares (rare too, most used domain/host names because they're "RECYCLABLE/REUSEABLE"), so here, you must couple HOSTS files w/ firewall rules tables (either in software firewalls OR router firewall rules table lists)
Knew you'd show up, as this is your area of expertise.
I was very disappointed I was able to log into evidon.com or adroll.com.
Can't find APK just yet but just might use a 1+ meg HOSTS file and do it backwards;
remove the sites I wish to visit as the HOSTS file blocks them.
See here, explains it all -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3561925&cid=43223585
* :)
I.E./Summary: Trolls had a challenge put to them to validly disprove my points in the post I just replied to - result? Trolls FAIL... lol!
APK
P.S.=> That's what makes me LAUGH harder than ANYTHING ELSE on this forums (full of "FUD" spreading trolls) - When you hit trolls with facts & truths they CANNOT disprove validly on computing tech based grounds, this is the result - Applying unjustifiable downmods to effetely & vainly *try* to "hide" my posts & facts/truths they extoll!
Hahaha... lol, man: Happens nearly every single time I post such lists (proving how ineffectual these trolls are), only showing how solid my posts of that nature are...
Ah yes "geek angst" @ it's 'finest' (not), vs. facts & truths = downmod by /. weak trolls!
... apk
2. Add NotScripts
3. Add FlashBlock
4. Add HTTPS Everywhere
5. Add Ghostery
6. Add AdBlock (cos why not)
That's your minimum kit to browse the web these days.
Ghostery's plan is to sell all of your information to advertising companies. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, but you should probably know that before you install it.
"In the absence of the ability to establish the attribute of truth they tried to establish the noble attributes."
It's not like we didn't notice yet that all sending an "opt-out" EMail accomplishes is to increase the value of your mail address because now it is confirmed to be one you actually use.
The only way to stop trackers is to mislead them with false information and block as many tracking as you possibly can. Relying on those that benefit from tracking to comply with your requests is naive at best.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"I already bought this shit. GTFO!"
Nothing more annoying than searching for a product, BUYING said product, and then for weeks/months later being shown ads for said product that I no longer have an interest in... BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY GOT ONE, YOU SEE?!?!" /French accent
If you want to see Ghostery at work, try that link to the first opt-out site http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ with Ghostery running - the list of blocks scrolled right off the bottom of my page.
Nothing.
Because i've been blocking them as they show up for years now. My hosts file actually reached 1 meg awhile ago.
85,000+ websites my pc will never contact in any way shape or form. Fuck those guys.
My browser also lies about what my os and browser is. And the pc and router are airtight from outside scans.
I do not exist.
Ad blocker and Ghostery are must have addons for Firefox. I have been using them for 3 years and they work great at removing the ads and trackers. Now, if Firefox will only allow us to control our cookies. I went to a friends house that did not have an ad blocker and was like whoooo... where did the content go.
Hey APK,
Protip:
It's not the truth or value (or lack of) in your post that gets it modded into oblivion, it's the fucking insane length. In addition to TL;DR (which goes without saying for a post of such length), how about irritating readers by requiring them to scroll through 20+ screenfuls just to get to the next post.
If you want to publish a short story like this, please do everyone a favor and blog it somewhere, then provide a brief summary and link to your blog. Readers intrigued by your summary will go read your blog, and everyone else will just move along at normal /. speed.
See here, explains it all -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3561925&cid=43223585
* :)
I.E./Summary: Trolls had a challenge put to them to validly disprove my points in the post I just replied to - result? Trolls FAIL... lol!
APK
P.S.=> That's what makes me LAUGH harder than ANYTHING ELSE on this forums (full of "FUD" spreading trolls) - When you hit trolls with facts & truths they CANNOT disprove validly on computing tech based grounds, this is the result - Applying unjustifiable downmods to effetely & vainly *try* to "hide" my posts & facts/truths they extoll!
Hahaha... lol, man: Happens nearly every single time I post such lists (proving how ineffectual these trolls are), only showing how solid my posts of that nature are...
Ah yes "geek angst" @ it's 'finest' (not), vs. facts & truths = downmod by /. weak trolls!
... apk
20++ ADVANTAGES OF HOSTS FILES OVER HOST FILES &/or HOST FILE ALONE for added "layered"/"defense-in-depth" security + SPEED:
1.) HOSTS files are useable for all these purposes because they are present on all Operating Systems that have a BSD based IP stack (even ANDROID) and do HOST FILEing for ANY webbrowser, email program, etc. (any webbound program).
2.) HOST FILE blocks ads (not anymore apparently, lol:
HOST FILE Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/2213233/HOST FILE-plus-to-offer-acceptable-ads-option )
in only browsers & their subprogram families (ala email), but not all, or, all independent email clients, like Outlook!)
Disclaimer: Opera now has an HOST FILE addon (now that Opera has addons above widgets), but I am not certain the same people make it as they do for FF or Chrome etc..
3.) HOST FILE doesn't protect email programs external to FF, Hosts files do. THIS IS GOOD VS. SPAM MAIL or MAILS THAT BEAR MALICIOUS SCRIPT, or, THAT POINT TO MALICIOUS SCRIPT VIA URLS etc.
4.) HOST FILE won't get you to your favorite sites if a HOST FILE goes down or is DNS-poisoned, hosts will (this leads to points 5-7 next below).
5.) HOST FILE doesn't allow you to hardcode in your favorite websites into it so you don't make HOST FILE calls and so you can avoid tracking by DNS request logs, hosts do (HOST FILEs are also being abused by the Chinese lately and by the Kaminsky flaw -> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/082908-kaminsky-flaw-prompts-dns-server.html [networkworld.com] for years now). Hosts protect against those problems via hardcodes of your fav sites (you should verify against the TLD that does nothing but cache IPAddress-to-domainname/hostname resolutions via NSLOOKUP, PINGS, &/or WHOIS though, regularly, so you have the correct IP & it's current)).
* NOW - Some folks MAY think that putting an IP address alone into your browser's address bar will be enough, so why bother with HOSTS, right? WRONG - Putting IP address in your browser won't always work IS WHY. Some IP adresses host several domains & need the site name to give you the right page you're after is why. So for some sites only the HOSTS file option will work!
6.) Hosts files don't eat up CPU cycles like HOST FILE does while it parses a webpages' content, nor as much as a HOST FILE does while it runs. HOSTS file are merely a FILTER for the kernel mode/PnP TCP/IP subsystem, which runs FAR FASTER & MORE EFFICIENTLY than any ring 3/rpl3/usermode app can.
7.) HOSTS files will allow you to get to sites you like, via hardcoding your favs into a HOSTS file, FAR faster than HOST FILEs can by FAR (by saving the roundtrip inquiry time to a HOST FILE & back to you).
8.) HOST FILE doesn't let you block out known bad sites or servers that are known to be maliciously scripted, hosts can and many reputable lists for this exist:
GOOD INFORMATION ON MALWARE BEHAVIOR LISTING BOTNET C&C SERVERS + MORE (AS WELL AS REMOVAL LISTS FOR HOSTS):
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ [someonewhocares.org]
http://hostsfile.org/hosts.html [hostsfile.org]
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm [mvps.org]
http://hostsfile.mine.nu/downloads/ [hostsfile.mine.nu]
http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download [hosts-file.net]
https://zeustracker.abuse.ch/monitor.php?filter
See here, explains it all -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3561925&cid=43223585
* :)
I.E./Summary: Trolls had a challenge put to them to validly disprove my points in the post I just replied to - result? Trolls FAIL... lol!
APK
P.S.=> That's what makes me LAUGH harder than ANYTHING ELSE on this forums (full of "FUD" spreading trolls) - When you hit trolls with facts & truths they CANNOT disprove validly on computing tech based grounds, this is the result - Applying unjustifiable downmods to effetely & vainly *try* to "hide" my posts & facts/truths they extoll!
Hahaha... lol, man: Happens nearly every single time I post such lists (proving how ineffectual these trolls are), only showing how solid my posts of that nature are...
Ah yes "geek angst" @ it's 'finest' (not), vs. facts & truths = downmod by /. weak trolls!
... apk
Are you sure you are replying to a real person and not a script?
This being said, if a script has a blog I would definitely be intrigued by it!
lucm, indeed.
I don't see what is actually the problem. Isn't that better to have somehow targeted ads?
As for breaching my privacy: I'm just a record in billions of records for those companies. I'm pretty sure they don't give a shit about me as an individual, they care about categories and segments and groups. So what if they know which website I look at and how frequently. We are not talking about companies using my facebook pictures or my wishlist on Amazon, it's just ads.
lucm, indeed.
Dear Mr Coward, I read through your entire post but saw no mention of MyCleanPC anywhere. Surely this is the ultimate in PC threat prevention and cure?
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
On the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out Page you can ask the 98 member companies listed there to stop tracking you and on Evidon's Global Opt Out page you can give some 200 more the boot
No, no you can't. I just tried the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page. It doesn't work. Out of 96 sites, 0 worked. I also tried Evidon. Looks like about only 80% of them can be shut off from that page. And now I have a horrible suspicion that all I've done is confirmed my existence to spammers.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Good point! :-)
You do all that work of opting out and with a single click of the delete cookies button all your work and 200 different cookies just hit the shit fan. Google had a program that was installed to block tracking but i forgot what it was for. But opting out with a cookie is useless. It needs to reside somewhere other then the internet folder.
Jack of all trades,master of none
1st of all - I wasn't the one who posted here 5x on this page's discussions on trackers in the 1st place!
I.E.-> It's some troll reposting OLD posts of mine here in this 'trackers' thread discussion, 5x no less - links below are noted where & when he did so!
(Since I have a lot more data in my current ones vs. the ones they posted impersonating me here about hosts value in added speed, security, reliability, & even anonymity to an extent)
Please - Give your "fine advice" to someone else, ok?
---
"Hey APK, Protip: It's not the truth or value (or lack of) in your post that gets it modded into oblivion, it's the fucking insane length. .In addition to TL;DR (which goes without saying for a post of such length), how about irritating readers by requiring them to scroll through 20+ screenfuls just to get to the next post." - by OffTheWallSoccer (1699154) on Saturday March 23, @01:52AM (#43255013)
SECONDLY - Well - Tell you what: WHEN & IF you can ever manage to be published yourself, then, I'd listen...
NOW - As to myself on that very note??
Yes - I have been, a dozen times or more in actual respected WRITTEN PUBLICATIONS in the art & science of computing (would you like a partial list?)...
QUESTION - Have you ever been?
(I *don't* mean online ONLY, but in actual written respected publications in the art & science of computing)?
I ask - since I *might* take advice from PEERS with actual "hands-on experience in the trenches" due to decent enough accomplishments of theirs being recognized by others in this field as good - not "wannabes" dispensing advice & yet NEVER having "been there/done that", themselves!
---
"If you want to publish a short story like this, please do everyone a favor and blog it somewhere, then provide a brief summary and link to your blog. Readers intrigued by your summary will go read your blog, and everyone else will just move along at normal /. speed." - by OffTheWallSoccer (1699154) on Saturday March 23, @01:52AM (#43255013)
THIRD & LASTLY: As to the material being "too long"?
Show us a way to make detailed information shorter without losing critical details, and take your ADD/ADHD meds (or treatments for your dyslexia so you CAN manage to read & digest their material) - OR, better yet:
Just don't read my posts @ all IF/WHEN they're "too much for you" due to your 'condition'... whatever that is!
However: IF you've done well in the same arena as I have a dozen times or more? I'd take it back...
(Only thing is - you have to SHOW US you have + prove it - that's all: Shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?? Well, we'll see on that note, shall we???)
APK
P.S.=> As to the moron impersonating me here, posting OLD material from my older posts here 5 times in these links in this discussion/thread:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3573873&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=43253647
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3573873&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=43255175
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3573873&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=43255167
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3573873&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=43253613
QUESTION - WHERE'S YOUR LIST OF PUBLISHED WORKS ON YOUR PART TO YOUR NAME/CREDIT in the art & science of computing??
After all - IF you're going to 'talk-the-talk', show us you can 'walk-the-walk', first... & I did ask that of you, so I could judge you as a possible PEER, not just some "armchair QB" attempting to tell myself "how to do it" (lol, especially when I've done that MANY TIMES, myself, from this only PARTIAL list below of times I have):
"My Name is Ozymandias: King of Kings - Look upon my works, ye mighty, & DESPAIR..."
----
Windows NT Magazine (now Windows IT Pro) April 1997 "BACK OFFICE PERFORMANCE" issue, page 61
(&, for work done for EEC Systems/SuperSpeed.com on PAID CONTRACT (writing portions of their SuperCache program increasing its performance by up to 40% via my work) albeit, for their SuperDisk & HOW TO APPLY IT, took them to a finalist position @ MS Tech Ed, two years in a row 2000-2002, in its HARDEST CATEGORY: SQLServer Performance Enhancement).
WINDOWS MAGAZINE, 1997, "Top Freeware & Shareware of the Year" issue page 210, #1/first entry in fact (my work is there)
PC-WELT FEB 1998 - page 84, again, my work is featured there
WINDOWS MAGAZINE, WINTER 1998 - page 92, insert section, MUST HAVE WARES, my work is again, there
PC-WELT FEB 1999 - page 83, again, my work is featured there
CHIP Magazine 7/99 - page 100, my work is there
GERMAN PC BOOK, Data Becker publisher "PC Aufrusten und Repairen" 2000, where my work is contained in it
HOT SHAREWARE Numero 46 issue, pg. 54 (PC ware mag from Spain), 2001 my work is there, first one featured, yet again!
Also, a British PC Mag in 2002 for many utilities I wrote, saw it @ BORDERS BOOKS but didn't buy it... by that point, I had moved onto other areas in this field besides coding only...
Being paid for an article that made me money over @ PCPitstop in 2008 for writing up a guide that has people showing NO VIRUSES/SPYWARES & other screwups, via following its point, such as THRONKA sees here -> http://www.xtremepccentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=ee926d913b81bf6d63c3c7372fd2a24c&t=28430&page=3
It's also been myself helping out the folks at the UltraDefrag64 project (a 64-bit defragger for Windows), in showing them code for how to do Process Priority Control @ the GUI usermode/ring 3/rpl 3 level in their program (good one too), & being credited for it by their lead dev & his team... see here -> http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/handbook/Credits.html or here http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2993462&group_id=199532&atid=969873
Which ended up fixing a "bug" for them later, here -> http://sourceforge.net/p/ultradefrag/bugs/136/ [sourceforge.net] via its implementation (partially, NOT fully yet as I outline it & use in my applications such as this one -> http://www.start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&Itemid=74
AND lastly: http://g-off.net/software/a-python-repeatable-threadingtimer-class where I got other programmer's work WORKING RIGHT (in PyThon no less, which I just started learning only 2 week ago no less) by showing them how to use a "Dummy Proxy Function" as I call it, to make a RepeatTimer class (Thread sub-class really) to take PARAMETERIZED FUNCTIONS, ala: