Opting Out of Big Data Snooping: Harder Than It Looks

Lasrick (2629253) writes "Princeton sociologist Janet Vertesi writes about her attempt at hiding her pregnancy from 'the bots, trackers, cookies and other data sniffers online that feed the databases that companies use for targeted advertising.' Big data still found her, even though she steered clear of social media, avoided baby-related credit card purchases, and downloaded Tor to browse the Internet privately."

Comments

One way

[Ol Olsoc]

Has no one learned? If you are on the net, you are known. And you are tracked.

Want to be anonymous on the web? Unplug your computer and kill it with fire.

Re:One way

[The New Guy 2.0]

Yep, and in the real world you're now required to carry a card with your database "primary key value" in order to get the real price, doing so otherwise causes you to "miss sales" or really "pay a surcharge".

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

thank god everything i put on that form was made up

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

Want to be anonymous on the web? Unplug your computer and kill it with fire.

And then hunt down every friend on facebook (even if you deleted your account) and kill their computers too. Hmmm, maybe that's not a bad idea.

Re:One way

[Em Adespoton]

The data you put on the form has 0 value to them: it's what you purchase with the card, when, and where that they're after. They can probably figure out exactly who you are and where you live just from your purchase data.

This is why some companies will ONLY honour the actual card, and reject phone-generated codes, telling them your phone number, etc: they don't want your purchase data to get mixed up with someone else using the same tracking number.

Personally, I think they'd do better just to use a phone's MAC instead; that'd be more reliable for them than a shareable card, and the MAC would be the same across businesses for advanced data sharing opportunities.

Plus, I'd be able to randomly generate a new one whenever I wanted :)

Re:One way

[Ol Olsoc]

Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

+100 geek cred points.

Re:One way

[zugmeister]

lol, yeah, and +50 to everyone who gets it.

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is why I usually get a new card every time I visit a store. I've probably got 300+ CVS cards; and a giant stack of Safeway Club Cards at home.

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

I really couldn't give two craps about some company tracking what groceries I buy.

Re:One way

[ernar]

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Ernar, his mods exalted

Re:One way

[mysidia]

they don't want your purchase data to get mixed up

How about we start a new fun website then.... Discount card exchange

The idea is, you signup with the site, and every few weeks, you swap your discount cards with complete strangers.

You get 50 people to stick their discount cards in a big lotto ball style shuffling contraption. And you each pull one out, so nobody is likely to wind up with the same card they put in.

Then in fact... the stores are guaranteed to get the purchase histories mixed up.

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

Untrue. I had someone who I have had no contact with on FB tag me in a pic. Said pic was seen by a cow-orker, and it made for a discussion at work the next weekday.

Not bad, but even though I could have had no FB access whatsoever, a tag is a tag, and it got picked up.

All it takes is "gee, so and so is preggers", and that gets sucked in the system.

Re:One way

[Dutch Gun]

You can get those discount cards and not attach any personal information to it. If you then pay with cash, the store still has no idea who you are. Every half year or so, just say you lost your card and ask for a new one. They always try to get you to attach it to you personal information, like you phone number, but you can simply decline to do so. It's not like they're NOT going to give you the card.

Honestly, I don't care enough about it to go quite that far (that is, I still pay with a CC), so they still probably know who I am, and that I buy bananas more often than oranges, and occasionally grab a plate from the sushi bar. Ah well.

Re:One way

[Ol Olsoc]

Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

+100 geek cred points.

Whoever modded this off topic? Most gracious whooshes to ya. Just because you are quite ignorant does not mean that I was not replying directly, and accurately to the AC's comment.

Re:One way

[dugancent]

First off, almost all of those places will give you the discount if you ask, even without the card.

That said, I always use Jenny's Number (867-5309) in whatever area code I'm in. It's never failed to work.

Re:One way

[ComputersKai]

Or make yourself a new identity. Hide your IP. Disable anything with "script" in it. Purchase with Bitcoin and use Lynx.
To be quite honest, I don't see much of a problem with some targeted advertising, but this is just plain intrusive, like if the entire industry is caught up in the NSA craze. The current laws don't do much about all this either.

Re: One way

[Anonymous Coward]

It's illegal discrimination and corporations thay underminerer societu should be terminated.

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

This kills the... Oh wait... Never mind.

Re:One way

[The New Guy 2.0]

Yep, cashiers love to break the rules and scan some other card for you. What does it take to get them to do their job correctly?

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

Great... so now I get to start seeing targeted ads that are targeted to someone else.
Sounds like a great way for women to start getting penis-enlargening ads.

Re:One way

[Anonymous Coward]

You will when the data is sold to your insurance provider...

Re:One way

[Ol Olsoc]

lol, yeah, and +50 to everyone who gets it.

Since by this time, I've been modded off topic, apparently not that many do get it.

Kadir beneath Mo Moteh

Then again, if I made a Klingon quote, it would probably be modded as funny.

Re:One way

[Em Adespoton]

The point I was making is that even if you pay cash, they aggregate enough data about where/when/what you purchase that when the information is cross-referenced in a data warehouse (yes, they trade information with other data brokers), the resulting matrix has a pretty good handle on you. Someone digging for an actual name and address using that info wouldn't have a hard time figuring out it was you.

But it only takes one CC purchase to strongly link this ID to your name and credit rating.

Trying to Hide

[mfh]

It's almost as if when you try to hide they get an imprint of your negative space.

Re:Trying to Hide

[VortexCortex]

Protip: That's why spies don't have to be ninjas.

Re:Trying to Hide

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at it from tracking computers' point of view. She existed and did stuff in the pattern labelled "normal young woman". Then her activities changed, and the computers detected her following the behavior pattern labelled "pregnant and hiding it".

Just because she thought her new pattern wouldn't be detected, doesn't mean she was right. Her new pattern was already detected and analyzed. She did the same thing as the last 10,000 women who were "pregnant and hiding it".

To not be detected, she should have carried on with her previous "normal" pattern. But how can she when she is pregnant and hiding it?

Big data found her?

[dougisfunny]

It doesn't say big data still found her anywhere in the article. She made no mention of evidence that they had, despite the Uncle sending a congratulations message on Facebook.

Was there more to story than just the article on Time where she said her measures weren't able to keep the information private?

Re:Big data found her?

[The New Guy 2.0]

It seems like anybody talking about this at facebook with it's amazing no-privacy policy indicates who should get hit with those ads. It's a "you can't hide!" situation.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems like anybody talking about this at facebook with it's amazing no-privacy policy indicates who should get hit with those ads. It's a "you can't hide!" situation.

Facebook has ads?

Re:Big data found her?

[Dutch Gun]

It doesn't say big data still found her anywhere in the article. She made no mention of evidence that they had, despite the Uncle sending a congratulations message on Facebook.

Was there more to story than just the article on Time where she said her measures weren't able to keep the information private?

Yeah, I saw nothing that said big data found her at all. Instead, I gleaned that she ended up acting pretty damn rude to her relatives who inadvertently broke her self-imposed techology exile, although I noted she didn't close down her Facebook account.

She concludes by complaining about the data-collection agencies, essentially blaming them after she behaved rudely to her family and friends, and launches into a weird conspiratorial rant about how her husband spotted a sign behind a checkout counter stating the company "“reserves the right to limit the daily amount of prepaid card purchases and has an obligation to report excessive transactions to the authorities", and then goes on to talk about how this (plus using Tor) made them feel like criminals. Huh? She then exclaims that Obama's report on data collection practices can't come soon enough, because... uh, what will that report do exactly?

While I'm not exactly on the side of these advertisement companies, the author clearly performed this experiment and wrote the article with a definite agenda in mind, and drew some somewhat odd and conspiratorial-sounding conclusions about the ordeal. It feels like she obfuscated the fact (not helped by the Slashdot summary) that her efforts did indeed pay off, and that apparently no commercial companies found out she was pregnant.

That being said... in most cases (there are exceptions, as the article points out), do women care if an advertisement agency finds out she's pregnant? As soon as I bought a home, I got a lot of homeowner-related advertisement. That was fine with me, as the ads were more relevant to my interests, and it's not something I had intended to be a secret. I understand the principle of the thing, but every technology we gain has its tradeoffs. The web is largely funded by advertisement. We pay with a lack of anonymity and privacy, which seem to be what most people prefer, as evidenced by the success of Facebook. Overall, I still think we benefit a lot more than we lose from the connectivity and persistence of our online world.

Re:Big data found her?

[khasim]

Yeah, I saw nothing that said big data found her at all.

Seconded. There should have been SOMETHING like "after which I was inundated with baby-related advertisements".

And trying to hide it while buying baby stuff on AMAZON?!?
?!?
one more time
?!?

I lied. One more time.
?!?

Amazon knows what you bought.
Amazon knows who you are.
Amazon knows where you had it shipped.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't say big data still found her anywhere in the article. She made no mention of evidence that they had, despite the Uncle sending a congratulations message on Facebook.

Was there more to story than just the article on Time where she said her measures weren't able to keep the information private?

Good point, the headline to the article says "My Experiment Opting Out of Big Data Made Me Look Like a Criminal", and that is the main thrust of the story. Who'd have thought that slashdot could write an innacururate summary, maybe Lazrick included a link that didn't make it? Probably not though.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's worse... facebook is, PUBLIC! Yep, if anybody talks about you there, all of the ad people get to see it because they are members of the public. So, the ads networks like Google's can follow you around.

Re:Big data found her?

[ColdWetDog]

I think you're right an all, but I can't get over just how bad these guys are at things. Buy a car, hundreds of ads about buying a car (hint, I already bought one, you see). Have a friend that's pregnant? Get hundreds of ads about 'your pregnancy'. Sorry guys, if you haven't figured out I'm a middle aged male, you're in more trouble than you realize.

It has to work at some level, else they wouldn't do it. But for fun, on a slow week, hit up Amazon for anything transgendered or gay. Better yet, use the login on the guy at work that you don't like much.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

The biggest problem I have with these ads are that they are almost NEVER what I'm interest in. As you said buy a car and they should instead give you ads of what fun you can have with gismo X for your new car, but No, "new cars over here!" is what you get.

It's no wonder ad sales have been declining for some time now. Better to try if you like that then this might also be interesting, you'd make a lot more sales I'm sure.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard this funny story the other day that the internet has ads.
I wounder what they were smoking when the came up with that.

Re:Big data found her?

[WaffleMonster]

and drew some somewhat odd and conspiratorial-sounding conclusions about the ordeal.

What is odd about noting "dual use" nature of services used to conceal ones identity?

http://info.publicintelligence...

Re:Big data found her?

[BradMajors]

Google knows. At sometime she must have sent an email to someone with a gmail address or called someone that used google voice and mentioned pregnancy. There is no way for her to know if her telephone call was being monitored and transcribed by google voice.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

that PDF is ridiculous, who it is aimed at? many of those items are unverifiable, like how can somebody determine that the person sitting next to them on at the internet cafe has "traveled an illogical distance to use the internet cafe"? how about verifying somebody using cards on different names?
Information about electronics? hydrogen peroxide? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide#Domestic_uses) or acetone? (the nail polishing liquid?)

Law enforcement should not be spreading FUD, sometimes "less is more", and it would have been better to keep that to themselves instead of trying to have the random Joe determine if he has to call the FBI because he saw he person sitting next to him at the internet cafe logging into AOL, talking over Skype, playing a game, buying nail polishing (for his wife maybe?) and paying in cash.

Re:Big data found her?

[mysidia]

essentially blaming them after she behaved rudely to her family and friends

No. Her family and friends behaved rudely and violated her trust in failing to respect her decision that the information is not to be posted on social networks.

Re:Big data found her?

[blackest_k]

Try this for size

http://quantifiedtoilets.com/#...

toilets which test and analyze gender quantity odour blood alcohol drugs pregnancy and stds there is a feed on the page.

Re:Big data found her?

[Dutch Gun]

Could you at least read the article first before posting a kneejerk reaction?

From the article: "For example, seven months in, my uncle sent me a Facebook message, congratulating me on my pregnancy. My response was downright rude: I deleted the thread and unfriended him immediately."

She admits herself how rude she behaved to family and friends in the article several times. As it turned out, they were unaware that private messages or postings on Facebook were not really "private". From her own account, those were simple misunderstandings. My real beef was that, if you bothered to read the article, that she seemed to assign the blame for her rude behavior on the data-minding companies, like she was somehow "forced" to be rude in order to protect her privacy.

Again, I quote: "Attempting to opt out forced me into increasingly awkward interactions with my family and friends."

Uh, no, the awkward interaction came because the author *chose to remain on Facebook*, yet placed the burden on her family and friends to keep her pregnancy a secret. Christ, the whole point about Facebook is that you talk with friends about things going on in your life. And when her friends and family inevitably let it slip, she overreacted rather dramatically. It really felt like she was intentionally setting herself up for failure in order to create a more dramatic scenario. Oddly enough, despite the slip-ups and idiocy of ordering baby supplies from Amazon (facepalm), the ad companies still apparently didn't get wind of her pregnancy (it's never mentioned in the article), something the summary misleadingly implies happened.

Damnit, I don't like being in the position of looking like I'm defending the ad companies here, but her "experiment" and accompanying article just seemed really over-the-top. Nothing more than that.

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazon knows what you bought.
Amazon knows who you are.
Amazon knows where you had it shipped.

She used a false name and account.
She paid with Amazon gift cards purchased with cash.
She had it shipped to an Amazon locker.

What was your point, again?

Re:Big data found her?

[epyT-R]

talk about literally having big brother's nose up your ass..

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't Amazon Lockers require photo id?

Re:Big data found her?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't Amazon Lockers require photo id?

No. I wish they had them where I live. Privacy, and no human interaction required.

Re:Big data found her?

[mujadaddy]

The web is largely funded by advertisement.

And that fact is largely to blame for most of the problems I have with the internet.

The internet used to be a labor of love: if you loved something, you had a site. It wasn't about making a buck off of people. Call me whatever name you like, but I'd rather 300 baud of people who love what they're hosting than 1Gbps of adware.

Re:Big data found her?

[Dutch Gun]

The web is largely funded by advertisement.

And that fact is largely to blame for most of the problems I have with the internet.

The internet used to be a labor of love: if you loved something, you had a site. It wasn't about making a buck off of people. Call me whatever name you like, but I'd rather 300 baud of people who love what they're hosting than 1Gbps of adware.

Do you use Google for searching? Ever enjoy a youtube video? How about looking up news articles online? Listen to a webcast from the Twit network? Even Slashdot, which I *know* you use at least. Every one of them free for you and paid for partially or entirely with ad revenue. If you truly can't abide seeing any advertisements, for heaven's sake, just use adblock.

It's obviously not a good fit for every service or site, but it makes a lot of sense for many of them. There are still plenty of wonderful, ad-free sites. Wikipedia would be the prime example, but there are many other smaller sites, completely ad free, just like there used to be. And anyone is free to rent a bit of space and put whatever the heck they want out there.

If I had to call you a name, I'd just go with "overly nostalgic". I was around when there was very little on the web (well before actually - I had a 300 baud modem myself, thank you), and honestly, I vastly prefer today's internet. Even with all its problems, there's also a lot more benefits as well.

Re:Big data found her?

[mujadaddy]

Of course I use Google for searching, but I've moved on to Startpage at present to minimize my Google footprint. Youtube existed before Google bought it, and it was unarguably a better place, if not quite as convenient with respect to speed or uploading.

And that is what I think you've missed, here in the comments of a story about how onerous it is to avoid becoming a data point in dozens, hundreds of advertisers' and Snowden-knows-what-else's data files:

We don't have a choice any more.

Back when the internet was hard to use, we didn't have mom or grandma our Cousin Suzy to worry about shining a light on us. The advertising you seem to celebrate has undoubtedly expanded the internet and 'free' content availability, but this is the very situation which I'm "overly nostalgic" against.

For the record, I'm not against ads or seeing them; I'm against that relationship of one-ad-on-one-site and the rest of my browsing habits being linked or traceable or contributory outside of that scenario where I've seen an ad on one particular site. You'll say that these interlinks and the industry behind it have 'made money' out of views, but, again, my position is that the Internet is for things the Host loves, not an opportunity to make money from the mere fact of traffic.

Every one of them free for you and paid for partially or entirely with ad revenue.

Money is not the only cost. And we're barely into the debate of what the real cost of 'free' sites is.

One anecdote: I do the .NET for a Fortune 200's 'dotCom' site. I was testing something the other day, functionality based on presence of a cookie generated from a different page view and had cleared all cookies and reloaded our homepage. Other than our site, I was floored to see one hundred and forty tracking and advertising cookie domains (not just cookies) populate my list. Do you seriously still think that the 'free internet' is free?

Re:Big data found her?

[sudon't]

The web is largely funded by advertisement.

And that fact is largely to blame for most of the problems I have with the internet.

The internet used to be a labor of love: if you loved something, you had a site. It wasn't about making a buck off of people. Call me whatever name you like, but I'd rather 300 baud of people who love what they're hosting than 1Gbps of adware.

I'm with you. I liked the internet a lot better before everyone decided they needed to make a buck off it. I wish most of these commercial sites would go out of business. It's actually a lot harder to find stuff I'm interested in, now.

Here's another thing I learned in the early days of the internet: Never use your real name online. You use your real name on Facebook, and you care about your privacy? I'm sorry, you're an idiot. It seems like every month there's an article like this, from some clueless "tech writer" who seems completely oblivious to the existence of ad and tracker blocking, and cookie management. I'm a truck driver, for god's sake.

Re:Big data found her?

[nullchar]

Perfect for buying sex toys from Amazon!

Re:Big data found her?

[Dutch Gun]

No, I didn't miss that point, but I'm probably communicating my own position somewhat unclearly.

You may be surprised that, in fact, I actually consider myself to be something of a privacy advocate, although probably not nearly as extreme as some. I guess I still see the good that the advertising revenue has done for the web as well as the bad, so I guess I've been taking a somewhat contrary position to balance the debate. Keep in mind that I view "advertisement" and "intrusive personal data mining" as distinct issues as well, although it would be naive to dismiss the relationship, of course.

It's certainly the aggregation of all that data and how it can potentially be used, as you state, that's a bit scary. At the moment, we simply have to trust that it's not being abused, but that probably isn't good enough. These companies are very quiet about what data they know and how much they know. When Congress asks them, they answer "none of your beeswax", and that doesn't seem to be a good sign. Ultimately, we're probably going to need some "complete opt-out" legislation, perhaps similar to the "do not call" list for telemarketers. Most industries have a pretty poor track record of regulating themselves without the threat of more stringent government regulation hanging over their heads, so unless they willingly provide some better tools for managing privacy (and I don't see that happening), it will probably come down to the government enforcing that on our behalf.

I assume you're asking about free as in "freedom"? Honestly, I think that's a bad way to couch the debate. Yes, we still have freedom on the internet, because government (assuming you live in a reasonably free first-world country) no one is curtailing your behavior, except in regards to lawbreaking activities. A more relevant question is: "do we have any online privacy?", and unfortunately, the answer is "probably not". What is the danger of a lack of privacy, aside from being worthwhile in itself? The collected data could potentially be used to actually curtail freedom instead of simply passively eroding privacy - the temptation to do so is huge. So, yeah, I do believe it's a real concern, and it's going to be a huge issue in the next decade or so as we figure out how to balance all of this realistically.

All that being said, I still think you're pining for an internet which basically few people actually used except a handful of academics and enthusiasts (sort of like Linux fifteen years ago, I guess). I was there, I saw it, and it was pretty damn uninteresting and far less practical than the internet we have today.

Re:Big data found her?

[mujadaddy]

No, I didn't miss that point, but I'm probably communicating my own position somewhat unclearly.

You may be surprised that, in fact, I actually consider myself to be something of a privacy advocate, although probably not nearly as extreme as some. I guess I still see the good that the advertising revenue has done for the web as well as the bad, so I guess I've been taking a somewhat contrary position to balance the debate.

I love a well-reasoned contrary position; nothing wrong with forcing people to think about their own.

Keep in mind that I view "advertisement" and "intrusive personal data mining" as distinct issues as well, although it would be naive to dismiss the relationship, of course.

And I said I don't mind advertising, only the distinct feeling that there's an entity-like algorithm behind the scenes ticking boxes when I do things.

Ultimately, we're probably going to need some "complete opt-out" legislation, perhaps similar to the "do not call" list for telemarketers.

That would take quite an honest & vigorous debate to enact; I doubt ten years is enough time for this, so I prefer to advocate personal obfuscation *now*...

I assume you're asking about free as in "freedom"?

No, actually; As you point out, we have "Freedom"-free (at least at the moment before the Impending US Net Neutrality Murder has played out completely). I'm saying that giving up our privacy is a 'beer-cost' which we're certainly not getting full dollar value for, at least in the US.

"do we have any online privacy?", and unfortunately, the answer is "probably not". What is the danger of a lack of privacy, aside from being worthwhile in itself? The collected data could potentially be used to actually curtail freedom instead of simply passively eroding privacy - the temptation to do so is huge. So, yeah, I do believe it's a real concern, and it's going to be a huge issue in the next decade or so as we figure out how to balance all of this realistically.

Well said, but the danger of a lack of privacy is, should be, self-evident: If I've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to see.

All that being said, I still think you're pining for an internet which basically few people actually used except a handful of academics and enthusiasts (sort of like Linux fifteen years ago, I guess). I was there, I saw it, and it was pretty damn uninteresting and far less practical than the internet we have today.

The impracticality protected us from being interesting enough to spy on. The impracticality for the average computer owner kept them off; ubiquity of the internet makes the target interesting enough to spy upon. "News for Nerds" vs. "News for Everyone"... I know it's not coming back, by the way... I just miss it.

Re:Big data found her?

[Dutch Gun]

Well said, but the danger of a lack of privacy is, should be, self-evident: If I've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to see.

I heard a couple of great privacy-related quotes after the NSA think broke a while back - don't remember where it's from though. The thoughtful version:

I've got nothing to hide from those I trust

Or the slightly funnier version:

I'm not doing anything wrong in the bathroom either, but I'd still like some privacy there

Re:Big data found her?

[RockDoctor]

That almost had me going for a few minutes. But they do say :

This was a thought experiment brought to you through the Critical Making Hackathon by:

So ... a thought experiment.

Several years ago, the last time we had the "random testers" come to work and piss-test everyone for drugs (using clinisticks - how the fuck accurate or not are they? and how foolable?), I considered how to do truly randomised drug testing in our environment. and the idea was, simply, test the effluent from the accommodation and offices block (where the site's toilets and rest facilities are - and in a 14-day hitch, you're going to shit and piss sometime). Since the work units have their own sewage processing plant on board, there are sampling points for that (and also for clearing the blockages in the lines - a job which the motor man hates). That, combined with the crew-on and crew-off records would be more than sufficient to narrow down which crew, and which part of crew is the one with the drug users in it. A crew being 15 to 20 people, depending on the installation.

Of course, they (the management) really want to have a named person they can point at to terrorise other people into thinking that they (the people who hire your employers equipment, and inter alia, you) control what you do in your leave time. Arseholes.

Re:Big data found her?

[tlhIngan]

The ironic thing is, by doing all these countermeasures, she appeared MORE unique to Big Data.

Everyone loves to try to hide, but the thing is, hiding makes you more obvious. Making large purchases from Amazon, but no obvious Amazon account usage or credit card/debit billing? Well, you must be an Interesting Person to follow. And not only that, there are so few Interesting People that you stick out like a sore thumb.

In the age of Google knowing everything, the name of the game is to NOT stick out. Be like your neighbours, and your traffic won't be immediately "more interesting" to investigate. I mean, in a hypothetical case where some terrorist was a newborn mother, are you going to investigate everyone on Amazon who bought diapers and a stroller recently? Or the 10 people who did it using Amazon gift cards bought from a local gas station (with cash)?

I'm sorry, we just can't allow that!

[The New Guy 2.0]

We also need better tracking of men who make women pregnant! See, for a first child, she's going to go through things she's never experienced before. They need to learn the Gerber brand, need to learn what diapers are about, told what's current at Toys 'R Us (are their any competitors left?) and more.

Sorry, you just can't opt out of that one. If you don't want it online, it's going to land in your mailbox.

Re:I'm sorry, we just can't allow that!

[Em Adespoton]

We also need better tracking of men who make women pregnant! See, for a first child, she's going to go through things she's never experienced before. They need to learn the Gerber brand, need to learn what diapers are about, told what's current at Toys 'R Us (are their any competitors left?) and more.

Sorry, you just can't opt out of that one. If you don't want it online, it's going to land in your mailbox.

That's why I search for baby names, cribs and daycares every 9 months or so. Surprisingly, they've stopped sending me "special deals" by email and mailbox; I guess they figure that after every 9 months for 15 years but with 0 purchases except as gifts, I'm probably not their target market.

I should have checked the F box on those surveys come to think of it... that'd have confused them even more.

welcome to the panopticon.

[rogoshen1]

:(

That this is news to anyone is interesting.

First the advertisers will stalk us, then the government will, then the revolution? (or more likely, circus and bread intensifies, and idiocracy results.)

others about you

[Anonymous Coward]

"But social interactions online are not just about what you say, but what others say about you."

Thats one of the reasons why I have no facebook or any other social network. If I can't control what happens with my data when they are in the internet (which others like the MPAA and Erdogan don't realize), and I can't control whether my data come online, I have no other option than to minimize my online presence.

Re:others about you

[pigiron]

Who cares? Block all tracking javascripts and use ad and pop-up/animated gif blockers and you will never see their advertisements when you browse.

It's easy enough to throw all junk mail away without even reading it when it comes to snail mail in your mailbox.

Re:others about you

[Teun]

Indeed, what others write.

For obvious reasons I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account yet Facebook mailed me with the positive message I should join them so I could communicate with good friends like *name1*, *name2* and *name3*.

Meaning my daft sister and a somewhat remote cousin/journalist had stupidly and carelessly dumped their adress books on Facebook who dutyfully analised their input for links and found me as a common point.
I have cursed both and written Facebook I was not impressed by their spying.

Strange enough they did supply a link where I could free myself from receiving further mails from them.
But for eternety I'll be watched by them and those they deal with, see my sig.

Re:others about you

[ColdWetDog]

You do realize that being an AC and as such, the most prolific, mentally maladjusted and developmentally compromised persona on the largest un-social network on the web gets you tracked by every governmental organization on all seven continents.

They're watching you.

Re:others about you

[Em Adespoton]

"But social interactions online are not just about what you say, but what others say about you."

Thats one of the reasons why I have no facebook or any other social network. If I can't control what happens with my data when they are in the internet (which others like the MPAA and Erdogan don't realize), and I can't control whether my data come online, I have no other option than to minimize my online presence.

Having no social media accounts just means that your social media profile hasn't been confirmed and associated with a credit report, not that it doesn't exist. For it to not exist, you need to ensure that everyone else who uses social media doesn't know you exist.

Re:others about you

[Anonymous Coward]

"They're watching you."

Good! And now they're watching you!

Re:others about you

[Anonymous Coward]

Right now, I feel that I am more affected by results from corporate spying than by the results of governmental spying.

Re:others about you

[Geoffrey.landis]

Thats one of the reasons why I have no facebook or any other social network.

Well, of course Slashdot commentary is a social network.

Re:others about you

[epyT-R]

they are one and the same.

Re:others about you

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that being an AC and as such, the most prolific, mentally maladjusted and developmentally compromised persona on the largest un-social network on the web gets you tracked by every governmental organization on all seven continents.

You don't even know the half of it, dude!

Her Very First Action Doomed Her

[Anonymous Coward]

Pay in cash and don't use loyalty cards works for in-store purchases. The Amazon gift card thing could work only if her husband bought them in cash and didn't fuck up by using his debit or credit card. Using TOR to try and keep advertisers away from her online presence works fairly well.

The very first thing she did wrong in trying to keep this private is ultimately what would ensure she got found out - it was opening her fucking mouth to her family and friends. "Always keep your mouth shut and never rat out your friends..."

Re:Her Very First Action Doomed Her

[Anonymous Coward]

Even worse, the tracking is so bad we're discussing her on Slashdot!

Uhh

[StripedCow]

and downloaded Tor to browse the Internet privately

Of course, unless she establishes a new exit node every time she visits a new website, and uses a browser with a different fingerprint each time, it is still possible to track her browsing behavior.

Re:Uhh

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, unless she establishes a new exit node every time she visits a new website, and uses a browser with a different fingerprint each time, it is still possible to track her browsing behavior.

The exit node (as the whole route) is randomly chosen every time she starts TOR, and gets swapped all 10 Minutes. To minimize her fingerprint, she should use TBB, as there the TOR team has made huge efforts to remove fingerprintable information. For example, the user agent is hardwired to Windows 7 I think, and the size of the browser window is sent rounded.

Re:Uhh

[Anonymous Coward]

Take the dick out of your ass and learn how tor works.

End to end routes are constantly (10 minutes by default, this is configurable) being changed and rearranged. As far as browser fingerprinting goes, the best thing to fo is make sure everybody looks exactly the same, perhaps by using something designed for specific tor usage, say tails.

Still, in the grand scheme of things it means fuck all. If "they" want you tracked, istalling tor won't be stopping them from doing it.

yep

[Charliemopps]

I've worked with this software in the past. You can't hide from it, period. I even saw one that considered TOR browser as a data point to help identify you. Even staying off the net wont help. They have deals with your grocery store, walmart, your car dealership, everything... They get all your data all the time. Our only saving grace right now is its so much detailed information they don't even know what to do with it all. They can send you adds that might better appeal to you, but other than that they're not really sure what else to do. I suspect that at some point, someone will figure out how to do horrible things with this kind of information, and then this will suck.

Re:yep

[The New Guy 2.0]

TOR has so few users that you're going to end up being identified as "Oh, you're the one visitor I have that's using TOR!"

Re:yep

[Anonymous Coward]

"TOR has so few users that you're going to end up being identified as "Oh, you're the one visitor I have that's using TOR!"

Actually, when you visit EFF's panopticlick while using Tor, you have a common user agent, versus a non-Tor browser which is very unique. Yes, the exit node IP gives you away, but there are countermeasures.

One solution is to use Startpage's free web proxy, especially through Tor. They spoof your user agent which changes often.

Tor has a lot of users:

http://metrics.torproject.org/

Sadly though recently a lot of bots have appeared, skewing the results.

Re:yep

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know. We get Tor users from time to time. And we've actually let legitimate Tor user's orders go through (and for laptops). But it was quite apparent the order was legit given the circumstances of the order.

Re:yep

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's funny how the fad for the past 5 years has been data mining, but no one has a clue what data to mine or what to do with the mined data except tailor some ads, which is something they've been doing long before data mining.

Ever think of compiling stats to find flaws in your product and improve quality? How about using it to find bottlenecks in your production chain? No of course not. Just generate more ads.

Re:yep

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Are you claiming to have the ability to backtrack who the connected person is? Or that during the few moments someone is on your site, they're the only person connecting through TOR, and therefore can be tracked around your site. Because I was under the impression that her goal was to prevent aggregation of data over time, not prevent a single site from knowing the cvisited pahes 3, 6, and then 12 during her visit.

Re:yep

[Anonymous Coward]

At least in the physical world you can get around a lot of this using cash and lies. Use cash where possible, and when the stores request more information: lie. Memorise a bunch of made-up names, or just use the names of obscure "famous" people. Become good at making up plausible-sounding phone numbers. And if a transaction requires factual information (I don't know, say they need to email you for some valid reason), consider whether you actually need whatever it is you were buying.

Oh, and avoid loyalty cards. They're just plain not worth it.

Re:yep

[The New Guy 2.0]

The main problem with TOR is there's not enough users, and as soon as the user hits a site that's never seen TOR before, they just nickname you as the TOR user on that site. If you read news through TOR or search Google through TOR, you're going to end up trackable anyway. Most news sites now refuse service to cookie-less users.

Re:yep

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're _really_ "worked with this software" and if it wasn't too far "in the past," you should realize that "knowing what to do with the data" is no saving grace. Web analytics, inferential knowledgebase engines, and other post-AI technologies make it easy to extract stupefyingly abstruse information from your clicks. These technologies are advancing at a stunning rate and are the subject of enormous investment by companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and, of course, Federal and State governments. The data isn't being dumped except in extreme cases, such as when logged content gets overwhelmingly large (think NSA), but those extreme outliers ought to dwindle quickly as storage and processing power becomes more economical. Really, there's no stopping any of this. Just as our grandparents had to make concessions to new technologies and regulations -- universal social-security cards, credit-card tracking, telephone tracking, GPS, satellite photography -- things that seemed unimaginably oppressive in the Nineteenth Century, our kids, and maybe us too, will soon accept this constant monitoring as the norm.

Re:yep

[Druegan]

I really doubt they have all that much on me that's at all useful to them. I don't have bank accounts, I shop by proxy, giving cash to certain trusted friends to purchase things for me, or I deal directly, in cash, with small independent retailers.

I have no credit cards, no shopping club cards, no discount cards.. I do use Facebook, every once in a while, but I have virtually no information on it beyond ranting about human idiocy and wishing happy birthday to people I haven't physically seen in 20 years. (and the occasional stupid cat picture share.)

On the net, I typically run NoScript aggressively, AdBlock+, HTTPS Everywhere and PrivacyBadger. I don't watch television, I don't use phones besides calling a local pizza joint once a month, unless I'm forced to. The only advertising I ever see is billboards if I drive somewhere.

Amusement occurs when I check my email spam filter.. I get things for "Over 50 Singles" (Not even close to 50, not particularly looking to meet people either.) Offers to refinance my mortgage or car loan.. (I have neither), "Special offers from AT&T for a free phone" (about 6 emails per day.. I *detest* phones, and the one I'm forced to have isn't even in my name, has none of my contact information associated with it, and is setup as "whitelist only" with only half a dozen people on the whitelist.)

And from that standpoint.. hell, they can "track" me all they want. I still won't give any of these parasites a goddamn dime (I have a policy of never doing business with anybody who sends me any kind of advertising, ever.) and they won't find much of anything in my information that they can even sell to some other group of parasites.

It's a choice whether or not you want to buy into this BS system of "ours". I've simply chosen to "opt out" in a rather more dramatic fashion than most.

EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[Freshly Exhumed]

EFF is launching a new extension for Firefox and Chrome called Privacy Badger. Privacy Badger automatically detects and blocks spying ads around the Web, and the invisible trackers that feed information to them.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/...

Re:EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[The New Guy 2.0]

Already tried and failed... it ends up with your IP address being tracked instead of your cookie... no way out from that one, and some news sites might stop serving you news for that one.

Re:EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[Anonymous Coward]

wtf is wrong with adblock (with or without noscript).. gotta be better than this.

Re:EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[Anonymous Coward]

Problem with IP tracking is that on CGNAT systems, it fails spectacularly.

Re:EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[RoqueEntity]

The only way to hide is to move to the Alaskan Wilderness and never return to civilization. I take great joy in poisoning every attempt to gather data on me. Send in those warranty cards with bogus info. Make Google searches on all kind of random things under your account. Register that shopper loyalty card in your dog's name. Get creative. Use the system's very strengths against itself. Garbage in equals garbage out to use that cliché. Make that data as worthless as possible.

Re:EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[Anonymous Coward]

it's even simpler then that and called a fucking "Hosts" file. I've been using one for quite a while along with a local proxy server to see who/what I'm connecting to and it's been invaluable in building the damn file. My browsing is faster, I don't see many of the fucking ads from overseas that I don't understand and I've seen fewer attempts to hijack my browser and/or system due to malware infested ads.

Captcha = Hurled

Re:EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool

[knorthern knight]

> Problem with IP tracking is that on CGNAT systems, it fails spectacularly.

In that case, I can see a great corporate push coming to move to IPV6.

Cash is King

[mrflash818]

Buying things with cash and not using membership/credit/debit cards, is about the best we can hope for, if we do not what our purchases and lives tracked.

Likely this using-cash-only anonymity costs more, as well as the inconvenience(?) of not making any internet purchases.

Really seems a truism, that "anonymity isn't free."

Re:Cash is King

[RJFerret]

Likely this using-cash-only anonymity costs more...

Huh? *tilts head, why might that be a presumption? In my case cash saves lots annually...

About 15% discount for cash at one of my car repair shops, 10% discount at the closer/less expensive one.

Discount for cash on rent.

Discount for cash with every service person I've ever had do work for me (plumbers, roofing, furnace repair, appliances, etc.) Heck, just yesterday, tow truck...who also offered a post-payment lift wherever I wanted to go afterward.

Card price is 4% more at many gas stations, although Discover gives 2% of that back to you, cash is 2% less than that (if you are at a station that doesn't charge different prices, that just means the cash buyers are subsidizing the card fees).

The only places I can think of that don't discount for cash that I regular pay for locally would be haircut, groceries and box store type purchases, but if there's still a local shop instead of Home Despot or BLowes, they are typically cheaper/better quality and discount for cash (thankfully there are still plumbing shops around here, if not general hardware stores anymore).

Heck, local property taxes are more via card, but same check/cash, so no discount truly there.

Totalitarian

[alexo]

From TFA:

a warning sign behind the cashier informed him that the store “reserves the right to limit the daily amount of prepaid card purchases and has an obligation to report excessive transactions to the authorities.”

If that is not a sign of a totalitarian state, I don't know what is.

Re:Totalitarian

[TubeSteak]

If that is not a sign of a totalitarian state, I don't know what is.

It's a byproduct of anti-money laundering laws and it's nothing new.
It's the same reason the IRS has a rule about deposits over $10,000 and another rule about "structuring" your deposits to intentionally avoid the rules.

They could get rid of it, but criminals would just start buying gift cards en masse to wash their dirty money.

Normal things for North Korea and USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't expect to hide any of your activities in regimes like North Korea or USA. Just last week landed in New York and was terrified by the amount of security forces on the streets. They are everywhere!!!
In kindergardens, grocery stores, parking lots and cars are buzzing through the streets to remind, american enslaved people who is in power.

Please explain this to me...

[Anonymous Coward]

I do not use my real name on any service.

I use "perk" cards but do not use my real name or info on them. And if I use them, I pay in cash. Or loan them out to 3-4 other friends as well.

I don't use cookies, and keep my browser locked down.

I use a vpn.

If I must register something, I do it with a pseudonym. (And have MANY different ones just for this reason.)

So just how accurate and good is tracking going to be with me?

Re:Please explain this to me...

[kruach aum]

Very, because your name is completely irrelevant. Imagine you want to know everything about penguins. You look at what they do all day, where they eat, where they hunt, which other penguins they hang out with, where they shit, whether they have eggs, who looks after the egg at what time, what kind of fish they're eating, what color their shit is, on and on and on. At that point, what extra information would a name give you? It would tell you absolutely nothing. You can assign the name yourself, just to ease the process of telling penguins apart. That the name didn't come from the penguins directly doesn't matter in the slightest.

Names are not how Big Data tracks you. They simply look at what connections are made from where to where at what time, and assign labels to the points where information flows from, and where information flows to. One of those points refers to you, and if they're any good, to your smart-phone, laptop, toaster, and all other internet-enabled devices you use as well.

Re:Please explain this to me...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, so, I have fairly diverse set of net only connections. People I have never, nor never will meet. And they do not know my actual name.

I do not have a phone. If I need to call I either 1. borrow a friend's cell, or 2. use a skype phone that's married to a fake acct.

I dump my browser info after every session and sandbox while using.

And I actively create disinformation about what little I can find about myself online.

So is it still "very" accurate? I'm honestly curious how I could do better? Any tips would be very much appreciated.

Re:Please explain this to me...

[Overzeetop]

You're missing the point. They (the information illuminati) don't care what your name is. They don't care who you are. Not even a little. You may as well be John Doe 338564 or Jesus Christ.

It doesn't matter who you are as long as they can figure out how to sell you more stuff. Their intent is not to release private information, but they do in their zeal to sell you as much as possible. As with the OP, perhaps sending you a glossy "welcome to motherhood " diaper coupon pack because they found out you're pregnant or - if you're a guy - a glossy "snip, snip - you're safe on Maury" labeled package for frozen peas and take-out pizza coupons after your vasectomy.

People who are paranoid seem petrified that big-corp will find out who you are. They don't care, they just want to guide your buying experience. They also seem to have a tremendous sense of self-worth, expecting that the Government is watching them at every moment, ready to "take them out" for some political reason. Unless you're running for office and in the cross-hairs of a viscous opponent above the state level who also has corrupt friends willing to risk their careers and livelihood on an illegal leak, or you owe them money, or are hunting down and killing agents, they don't give a rats ass about you.

So, really, if you use a loyalty card - even with cash - they will have a profile on you. If you share it, it's an aggregate profile, but one of a small number of your friends - still statistically valid for marketing (targeted register coupons, etc.).

BTW - if want loyalty discounts without the hassle of tracking, just give them your phone number: (area code) 867-5309. It's worked in every state and every store I've ever tried. That's a profile that - no doubt - has a lot of action, or at least a good time. ;-)

Re:Cash is NOT King anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

All bill numbers are recorded as they leave ATM machine and the cash flow is tracked. Pay using your body or offer services instead.

Re:Privacy Badger tool

[Anonymous Coward]

Already submitted:

http://beta.slashdot.org/submi...

but never made FP.

Re:Privacy Badger tool

[Anonymous Coward]

also made it to FP at:

SN: http://soylentnews.org/article...
PD: http://pipedot.org/story/2014-...

C'mon, posts about freakin VHS tapes on the FP at least twice in the same day but this news is ignored?

go off the grid

[Anonymous Coward]

Well going completely off the grid might be impossible, but paying retail with cash and sharing your web-surfing devices with other people (e.g., your wife and kids) tends to confuse most tracking algorithms enough that they are merely an annoyance instead of being scary...

Re:Cash is NOT King anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

Citation needed!

Wrong summary and silly article

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite frankly, this woman is considerably naive, and not a little bit daft. Once she told her relatives the cat was instantly out of the bag, as anybody with a single functional neuron should have expected. At any rate, there is no evidence that 'big data' or 'clever algorithms' caught her. Her article amounts to rambling about nothing.

Re:Wrong summary and silly article

[kruach aum]

From a sociologist? Surely you jest.

Re:Wrong summary and silly article

[93 Escort Wagon]

She's a faculty member - so right there you know here connection to the real world is pretty tenuous.

(No, I am not attempting to make a joke. I work with faculty every day)

Re:Wrong summary and silly article

[Anonymous Coward]

(No, I am not attempting to make a joke. I work with faculty every day)

Thus displaying that your connection to the real world is also rather tenuous.

Re:Wrong summary and silly article

[93 Escort Wagon]

Woah. Mind blown.

Re:Privacy Badger tool

[Anonymous Coward]

Resubmitted:

http://slashdot.org/submission...

Big Data snoop infects everything, check your TV

[Anonymous Coward]

The latest firmware update from LG for their Smart TVs includes a 'privacy' policy that requires you to allow them to track what TV channels you watch, your voice (it is recorded) if you have a voice activated remote, any apps you use, any movies you stream...the list goes on.

Decline the agreement and they disable pretty much everything, including services like Netflix and Amazon, though they also say in their ToS that these 3rd party services are outside of LG's control and have their own ToS to agree to. Getting to the point where you will have to agree to an anal exam to buy pants.

Big data existed before the internet

[wiredlogic]

Acxiom has been doing this for decades before the web existed. If you spend money electronically they have a record of when, where, and what you purchased. With a sufficient enough sample of data they can determine interesting things about people like when they're likely to be pregnant or menstruating or any number of other characteristics marketers can use to improve their chances of a sale. For instance, if women are more likely to buy certain products at certain parts of their cycle then a marketer can synchronize their junk mailing to coincide with the the optimum time for them to be most receptive to spend their money on something. Yes, this really happens.

You have to disconnect from the internet AND spend cash only AND never use loyalty cards AND hope no one you do business with still sells your information to a data broker to be able to hide from them. Tor alone won't cut it.

Re:Big data existed before the internet

[VortexCortex]

Meh, I just refuse to be a fanboi. Don't by anything you actually like. Problem solved.

Re:Big data existed before the internet

[podmate]

I worked at Acxiom a few years back and I was amazed and disturbed by the amount and level of detail of information that they have on just about everyone.

Re:Big data existed before the internet

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to disconnect from the internet AND spend cash only AND never use loyalty cards AND hope no one you do business with still sells your information to a data broker to be able to hide from them. Tor alone won't cut it.

I'm afraid that's not enough. It amazes me how people overlook the power companies. They are the biggest aggregators of identities and current addresses in the world. Every time you move and transfer your electric bill they immediately sell your new info. That's how the junk mailers know that you moved so quickly.

The government-sponsored monopolies utility companies operate in are ruled by municipal governments and state regulatory commissions staffed with people who are desperate to demonstrate their relevance by limiting the rates utility companies can charge, thus removing profitability from the enterprise. The utilities make profits for their shareholders through alternative income streams, such as selling user data, that are not over-regulated by multiple levels of draconian government.

Improperly configured TorBrowser and Addons?

[Anonymous Coward]

This puff piece imo sounds like a fishing expedition to uncover skilled privacy/security experts or anyone interested in encrypted communications.

Bottom line is if you don't know what the fuck you're doing (especially if you use TBB or TAILS out of the box without tweaking the default settings) don't use it.

So stay offline

[HockeyPuck]

So for 9months:

Pay for your prenatal supplies with cash.
Don't surf the web for anything related to pregnancy or children.
Surf the web for chainsaws and snowblowers.
Read books.
Read Newspapers made from paper.
Read Magazines made from paper.
Buy them at the local store in cash.
Don't give them your "Frequent Shopper Card"
Stay offline.

Not so tough.

Re: So stay offline

[Anonymous Coward]

And then your hospital sells your name (and baby's) to the marketers.

Re:So stay offline

[Anonymous Coward]

So for 9months:

So for 18years...

What's the point? In case the child dies or something? I want to see someone hide the fact that they have a child for 18 years while having a meaningful relationship with the child and a non-fucked up social life.

"Whatever happened to your mom?" "Oh, mother? Huh, what are you even talking about?"
[mother dies alone in nursing home, no one knows or cares]

hard, but not impossible

[Geoffrey.landis]

I'm puzzled. The summary says " Big data still found her...", but the actual article doesn't support that statement-- she just says how hard it is to keep a secret, and that multiple big transactions makes her look criminal.

She does say that despite telling her friends not to, two people messaged her privately on Facebook... but doesn't say that the info got picked up.

Re:hard, but not impossible

[Anonymous Coward]

Big data still found her, even though she steered clear of social media, avoided baby-related credit card purchases, and downloaded Tor to browse the Internet privately

I would add to your comment by asking if she was dumb enough to still use a smart phone? plus ""She does say that despite telling her friends not to, two people messaged her privately on Facebook... but doesn't say that the info got picked up.""

Re:hard, but not impossible

[nullchar]

Yes, I read the entire article looking for how Big Data found her.

Big Data didn't find her. She seemed to have only two problems:

1. 1) It's hard to keep family and friends from posting about you on social media
2. 2) It's hard to buy gift cards with cash to buy shit anonymously online.
   Solution: purchase them slowly over time from different brick and mortar stores until you need them. Or... don't buy expensive items online.

Re:hard, but not impossible

[Anonymous Coward]

2) It's hard to buy gift cards with cash to buy shit anonymously online.

Why would she buy gift cards with cash (on camera) instead of using CoinJoin?

huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont even attempt to hide myself and i feel im not tracked at all.

Why? Stopping trackers = EASY

[Anonymous Coward]

On PC's & Servers (smartphones too) http://yro.slashdot.org/commen... :)

Enjoy - it works, & is a 100% freebie no strings or tracking attached (better than browser addons by a MILE, & even shores up DNS redirection security issues, easily!)

APK

P.S.=> There ya go - it works, using what you have NATIVELY (not "piling on" more complexity + room for breakdown with SLOWER usermode messagepassing overheads bound browser addons that don't do a FRACTION of what hosts can do)... apk

Re:Why? Stopping trackers = EASY

[Anonymous Coward]

That's quite some dedication you've got there. Reply, control-v, preview, save.

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[Anonymous Coward]

All they can do is downmod you apk but they can't prove you wrong.

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Oh no, not Another Piece of Krap again!

I beat trackers easily (hosts files)... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):

---

APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:

http://start64.com/index.php?o...

(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)

Summary:

---

A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme... w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,

C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).

---

* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )

APK

P.S.=> Currently adding 2 features to it:

1.) 'Shearing away' tracker you CAN'T see, via code techniques that emulate a netstat -ano albeit on an automated timer to do so, as I did here on slashdot (much like how "PEERBLOCK" operates, but, not using ADDED COMPLEXITY laying in a filtering driver, but instead, using the native Windows firewall, creating rulesets for that much too)

AND

2.) Making it FASTER on its slowest part (Convert & Filter) by breaking the file into 100 parts (which process FASTER already than doing the single large intake I do currently) by August!

... apk

Re:I beat trackers easily (hosts files)... apk

[sandbagger]

This is why technical writers will never run out of work.

Re:I beat trackers easily (hosts files)... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

one man's data is another man's information

[Anonymous Coward]

What until they can get all consumable water in bottles. And then tagged bottles spells the end of privacy.

And pulling your own ground water will be useless from the fracking unless you build a refinery.

Re:Cash is NOT King anymore

[K. S. Kyosuke]

I have a vision...I see people starting randomly exchanging banknotes on the streets!

Re:I beat it all using custom hosts files

[Anonymous Coward]

Apk all they have is unjustifiable downmods but they can't prove you wrong. You're winning man.

So how did she hide again?

[wjcofkc]

This "sociologist of technology" (self proclaimed?) might want to go back to school. As far as I am aware, even if you use TOR and gift cards, and have you stuff shipped to a po box, you still need a legit account with a name, in which case off goes your private data.

Re:So how did she hide again?

[stoploss]

Are you certain?

Re:So how did she hide again?

[Electricity Likes Me]

That's not really your private data though. Name's, by definition, are for the benefit of yourself when interacting with others. They're delivery metadata.

Re:So how did she hide again?

[Anonymous Coward]

...which is a great point. I order things from Amazon all the time and have them shipped to my home as gifts. I have never once shipped an Amazon order to myself using my own name at my home.

I wonder what the dread algorithms think about that?

rudeness butts into common sense

[epine]

essentially blaming them after she behaved rudely to her family and friends

Apparently one person's "rude" is another person's common sense. (Invocation of "blame" is another red flag that common sense has left the building.) 100% of the rudeness here derives from unbalanced technology, because Facebook wants it that way.

Entire countries filter the internet. Yet as an individual, it's not practical for me to contract a public identity management agency which allows me to enact controls over what personal information I'm willing to see splattered into the public space on malign service hosts.

Nothing should go onto your social media pages that doesn't first go through your own appointed screening filter, if you choose to have one.

Had such an option been available, her personally appointed screening filter would have simply bouncing back a message to her uncle to the effect that "Janet doesn't wish to see her reproductive status conveyed on cloud services".

It's not rude. It's common sense.

Re:rudeness butts into common sense

[Dutch Gun]

I'm guessing you didn't read the article.

"For example, seven months in, my uncle sent me a Facebook message, congratulating me on my pregnancy. My response was downright rude: I deleted the thread and unfriended him immediately. When I emailed to ask why he did it, he explained, “I didn’t put it on your wall.” Another family member who reached out on Facebook chat a few weeks later exclaimed, “I didn’t know that a private message wasn’t private!”"

And again:

"But avoiding the big data dragnet meant that I not only looked like a rude family member or an inconsiderate friend, I also looked like a bad citizen."

I'm not the one claiming she acted rudely. She states it herself twice in the article.

Note I'm not defending the behavior of the ad companies here. However, if she was really serious about wanting privacy about that sort of thing, I would think the common-sense course of action would be to stay off Facebook completely. Everyone knows that whatever you do there is mined mercilessly for data, but there's absolutely no reason one has to be on there, other than they *enjoy the features of the service* (this author apparently included). Likewise, there's zero reason you HAVE to shop online or pay for items with a credit card if you don't want to. You also don't have to give your real name or phone number for getting a "discount card" at most shops - that's entirely optional, in my experience (and I don't).

The article just sounded like much ado about nothing to me, that's all. It was her nine-month sociology experiment, and she wrote up the results to be as dramatic as possible - a very first world problem, in other words.

Re:rudeness butts into common sense

[AmiMoJo]

The point of it was not that big data would catch on anyway, it was the extreme measures and rudeness required to avoid it. She had to do a lot of work just to avoid ending up in marketing databases. As demonstrated by the reaction of her relatives this may come as a surprise to many people. To the layperson a "private" message is, well, private.

Sure, no-one forces you to use on-line shopping. The issue is that you want to buy stuff in a convenient way at a good price from an online shop like Amazon. You pay them money, it's not an ad-funded free service. Yet, you still get tracked and profiled. This has set a dangerous precedent, and soon with things like facial recognition and mobile phone tracking even physical shops will be doing it. There is no opt-out, only the limitations of current technology.

Re:rudeness butts into common sense

[Kjella]

Note I'm not defending the behavior of the ad companies here. However, if she was really serious about wanting privacy about that sort of thing, I would think the common-sense course of action would be to stay off Facebook completely. Everyone knows that whatever you do there is mined mercilessly for data, but there's absolutely no reason one has to be on there, other than they *enjoy the features of the service* (this author apparently included).

Not unless your circle of good friends intersects with the circle of walking Facebook-feeds, they want to check in and tag and tweet and instagram everything that's their choice, that I don't is my choice and we're trying to meet somewhere in the middle. Practically that means I have a Facebook account, the privacy settings are basically dialed back to an empty page so I can respond to events, messages and such but when we're together they have a pretty damn good shadow profile of me anyway. Particularly with face recognition I'm sure they can tag meg in pictures from the friend list whether my friends do it or not, so I've stopped bothering there as well as long as my timeline is empty. I wouldn't be surprised if they show up with Google Glass, but there I might draw the line.

Re:rudeness butts into common sense

[Dutch Gun]

Not unless your circle of good friends intersects with the circle of walking Facebook-feeds, they want to check in and tag and tweet and instagram everything that's their choice, that I don't is my choice and we're trying to meet somewhere in the middle. Practically that means I have a Facebook account, the privacy settings are basically dialed back to an empty page so I can respond to events, messages and such but when we're together they have a pretty damn good shadow profile of me anyway. Particularly with face recognition I'm sure they can tag meg in pictures from the friend list whether my friends do it or not, so I've stopped bothering there as well as long as my timeline is empty. I wouldn't be surprised if they show up with Google Glass, but there I might draw the line.

Yeah, that's a good point. Trying to keep your privacy while actually using Facebook is sort of like trying to "stay safe" while juggling chainsaws. It's completely at odds with the basic premise of the activity. Fortunately, my friends and family don't rely on Facebook to that extent - or at least, will simply e-mail, text, or call me.

Re:Cash is NOT King anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey bigmouth: You're being called out http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

I know (it's great)... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Why they'd troll me with failing ad hominem attack attempts or downmodding me "hit & run" (yet NEVER ever disproving my points in favor of custom hosts giving users of them more SPEED, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, & even ANONYMITY online) etc. used to boggle my mind.

It's a good program -> http://start64.com/index.php?o... that does the job & offers the benefits I enumerate in its download link.

HOWEVER - It doesn't boggle my mind anymore why trolls here do:

Obviously those doing it aremalware makers/botnet masters (I block them refreshed daily from 12 reputable & reliable sources in the security community), advertisers (I block their ads which steal speed you PAID for & infect you with malicious scripts + track you), inferior competitors (Ghostery/AdBlock/RequestPolicy), or webmasters (Pissed I block ads - they're being exploited + I held off on letting my app out (not anymore after that)) & it isn't "Souled-Out" INFERIOR (Adblock & Ghostery) & it shores up security faults in DNS & speeds up resolution of your fav. sites hardcoded in it (faster than remote DNS lookups + secures you vs. DNS request logs + DNSBL)

APK

P.S.=> Well, they're going to do that regardless of their transparent WEAK bullshit - so I just post it again (as I have NO POSTING LIMITS unlike other 'ac' posters here - so they'll run "dry" of their modpoints for unjustifiable downmods, & will be "outta gas" - but, I won't EVER be, & they know it so I just post it again - no more *trying* to vainly "hide" my posts (which most here see anyhow)... lmao! They're idiots trying to do futile b.s., that's all...

.. apk

Re:Cash is NOT King anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

PARTYVAN!

No matter what you do

[koan]

A "friend" might comment on your condition and upload your photo as well.

American foreign policy?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://imgur.com/gallery/dBEm...

Don't hide - Lie

[Anonymous Coward]

Poison the well every chance you get.

The hard part is convincing them that you're pregnant after you have them inundating you with testicular cancer treatment ads.

Re:You're MORE THAN WELCOME

[Anonymous Coward]

Take your advertising and cram it up your ass using that ugly turd of an app.

Misinformation.

[__Paul__]

Clearly, the best path for people to take is to start feeding misinformation into the system. Periodically do searches for things you're not remotely interested in. Make them think you're a completely different age, sex, race, and socio-economic group. A database full of incorrect marketing information is worthless to anyone.

Re:Misinformation.

[Anonymous Coward]

An old girlfriend of mine is super paranoid about disclosing her age. She's got a real hang-up about it, partly because she can easily pass for 20 years younger than she really is (the benefit of lots of sunscreen and a one-in-a-million genetic disorder). So we made her a fake id that had all the same info as her real id, but listed her birthdate as 15 years younger than she really is. Anyone who isn't a cop and requires photo-id gets the fake one.

Now, when you look her up on those sites like pipl.com there are two versions of her - the real one and the 15 years younger version of her.

Re:Cash is NOT King anymore

[__Paul__]

All bill numbers are recorded as they leave ATM machine and the cash flow is tracked.

Even if this were true, there is no recording of serial numbers on banknotes from shop cash registers, so the moment you spend a large banknote, there is no way that they can track that you're holding the banknotes that you get as change, nor of what you spent the original banknote on.

Medical Records are For Sale

[Anonymous Coward]

HIPAA is a joke. All HIPAA does is prevent your family members being able to make decisions for you if you become incapacitated. Your records can still be shared between doctors and their "affiliates," which always include the Medical Information Base (the medical equivalent of Equifax), which of course can then distribute that information to its "affiliates," which include anyone paying for data about you.

Your medical records are NOT private in the US. Not by a long shot.

Ignoring the obvious reason....

[0b1knob]

Her insurance company probably sold the information once she was diagnosed, All insurance companies sell mailing list type information. When I was diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease several years ago I was suddenly deluged with emails and snail mail spam for prepaid funeral services. I eventually found that my friendly HMO had sold me out. I don't want to mention any names but the initial are KP.

Re:Ignoring the obvious reason....

[linuxrocks123]

How is that not an absurd violation of HIPAA?

She needs to learn about host file blocks

[sandbagger]

Here are some to get her started.

0.0.0.0 www.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 facebook.com
0.0.0.0 www.static.ak.fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 static.ak.fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 www.login.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 login.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 www.fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 www.fbcdn.com
0.0.0.0 fbcdn.com
0.0.0.0 www.static.ak.connect.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 static.ak.connect.facebook.com

Apart from that, though. If she signs into Amazon to buy something, OF COURSE they'll know it's her.

Bad idea

[jma05]

> Periodically do searches for things you're not remotely interested in

Any attempt to fight an inexpensive algorithm, with expensive cognitive activity, especially when you have no feedback on how you are effecting the system, is a losing proposition. Fight automation with automation, or just don't bother.

> Clearly, the best path for people to take is to start feeding misinformation into the system.

These systems are probabilistic, not deterministic. So, they are pretty much built with the assumption that they won't be getting perfect data. Your occasional misdirections won't mean a thing. They will just go below the threshold of significance.

If you pay cash...

[Anonymous Coward]

...they have no information with which to track you.

Any time you use any card (debit, credit, discount, ...) you give them the means to track more of your information.

If you really want the discount at, say, your local grocery store, keep in mind that many of them will accept a phone number in lieu of an actual card. Do you have a friend or relative with a discount card from that chain? Works very well for me. I get the discount, my mom gets the points, and the grocery store chain gets horribly inaccurate information about my mother. Win, win, win.

Re:Custom hosts files blow away AdBlock... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

You do know there's a checkbox to disable whitelisted ads, right?

Seriously, with an active Facebook account?

[Boltronics]

In TFA, Janet admits to actively using a facebook account during the entire experiment. What the heck did she expect?

And how much is a stroller anyway? Many appear to be under US$100, so that's just 2x $50 cards. Would it really have fit in a locker? How much other stuff from Amazon was she buying? Couldn't an Entropay card have worked? Why Amazon in the first place?

The article concludes with When it comes to our personal data, we need better choices than either “leave if you don’t like it”. It seems like Janet was trying to do more than is usual online, specifically using sites known to track user buying habits, so IMO this is not a real world test.

Re:Seriously, with an active Facebook account?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, on the internet nobody knows you are a dog - unless you use facebook and post selfies licking your own balls...

Re:Seriously, with an active Facebook account?

[Overzeetop]

That was my thought: "Wants to remain completely anonymous; still connects with friends and family on Facebook and buys stuff on Amazon."

Re:Seriously, with an active Facebook account?

[Anonymous Coward]

You thought wrong: she was only trying to stop them discovering she was pregnant.

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[Anonymous Coward]

STOP SPAMMING /., WANKER!!!!

Turn off cookies and I doubt if you can post here

[Anonymous Coward]

That is sad.

Turn targeted ads to your advantage

[safetyinnumbers]

At the start of every day, go to amazon and Google and search for lingerie (or appropriate underwear for your gender of choice).

All day long, web pages you visit will be filled with pleasing images.

Re:You're MORE THAN WELCOME

[Anonymous Coward]

Apk's program crams advertising up someone's ass but not an end user's (they don't see ads using it).

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[Anonymous Coward]

Apk'd have to sell something to spam stupid. His app's free. It's ok for "EFF" b.s though, right? Wrong. Fuck off.

Re:Custom hosts files blow away AdBlock... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

You do know hosts do more than adblock can for more speed, security, reliability, and anonymity, right?

Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts files

[Anonymous Coward]

Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):

---

APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:

http://start64.com/index.php?o...

(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)

Summary:

---

A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme... w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,

C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).

---

* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )

APK

P.S.=> Currently adding 2 features to it:

1.) 'Shearing away' tracker you CAN'T see, via code techniques that emulate a netstat -ano albeit on an automated timer to do so, as I did here on slashdot (much like how "PEERBLOCK" operates, but, not using ADDED COMPLEXITY laying in a filtering driver, but instead, using the native Windows firewall, creating rulesets for that much too)

AND

2.) Making it FASTER on its slowest part (Convert & Filter) by breaking the file into 100 parts (which process FASTER already than doing the single large intake I do currently) by August!

... apk/b

Here's something YOU may want to know about

[Anonymous Coward]

APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:

http://start64.com/index.php?o...

(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)

Summary:

---

A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme... w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,

C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).

---

Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization).

* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )

APK

P.S.=> Enjoy - it's 100% free, no strings attached (or trackers), & works (which of course, YOU KNOW, since you use custom hosts files)... apk

I'm not: Here's how... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

* :)

Enjoy - it works, & is a 100% freebie no strings or tracking attached (better than browser addons by a MILE, & even shores up DNS redirection security issues, easily!)

APK

P.S.=> There ya go... apk

exhange diversions

[harvey the nerd]

Works great until the FBI crashes in with flash bangs because you're supposed to be Carlos the Jackel or Osama bin Laden's local rep.

Custom hosts files blow away AdBlock... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

* FACT!

APK

P.S.=> Adblock 'souled-out' to advertisers - they should call it "ALMOST ALL ADS BLOCKED" now because of that (with their default letting google ads etc. through) & AdBlock doesn't DO A FRACTION OF WHAT HOSTS CAN for added speed, security, reliability, or anonymity!

... apk

Glad I am in europe then

[Anonymous Coward]

"I've worked with this software in the past. You can't hide from it, period. I even saw one that considered TOR browser as a data point to help identify you. Even staying off the net wont help. They have deals with your grocery store, walmart, your car dealership, everything... They get all your data all the time."

Would pretty much be forbidden by the various directive on privacy and data retention. Statistic in bulk would be allowed, but identifiable (to a person) pattern would fall afoul of those directive. Particularly the right to rectification and the right to know what's saved on you.

a simple answer

[Anonymous Coward]

...Juliet on the Balcony...

What rudeness?

[Sloppy]

instead, I gleaned that she ended up acting pretty damn rude to her relatives who inadvertently broke her self-imposed techology exile

I RTFAed but I didn't find any examples of rudeness.

All I can think of, is that maybe some people consider Facebook unfriending to be rude. Has that become true? Or was it some other act (e.g. asking people to help collect gift cards, maybe)?

Re:What rudeness?

[Dutch Gun]

I RTFAed but I didn't find any examples of rudeness.

All I can think of, is that maybe some people consider Facebook unfriending to be rude. Has that become true? Or was it some other act (e.g. asking people to help collect gift cards, maybe)?

No, it was the part where she literally states "I acted rudely" twice in the article. Did you miss it? That, and the fact that she apparently called them out and questioned why they contacted her on Facebook. I can only infer based on what she said, but it sounded like she wasn't exactly polite about doing that either.

Facebook unfriending is, from what I understand, removing someone's permission to post in your personal zone (depending on your settings, I'd guess). Considering this was her immediate response to a relative who was just trying to be nice and wish her well... yeah, it sounds pretty rude to me.

Wouldn't a reasonable response be to simply remove the post, then contact them immediately and explain the situation more clearly, asking them not to do it again? I'd think most people would simply apologize for the mistake and no hard feelings would be had. But hey, that wouldn't make for very interesting reading now, would it?

Seed false positives ahead of time

[Anonymous Coward]

My profile looks like Harry S Plinkett, because I type all kinds of bizarre things into Google. No one would know what I was truly searching for, or which of the identities I use is real. And a lot of my stuff happens on the dark net where big data doesn't go. The best defense is a good offense! E-mail me if you want a pizza roll.

Do not use ATMs

[mrflash818]

Stand in line at your bank, have a human hand you cash from a cash register drawer.

Hopefully those bills are not tracked as to which serial numbers are given to which bank customers, as they usually just pull them from the cash register drawer, count them out in front of you, and then you are on your way.

costs of cash-only lifestyle

[mrflash818]

In my case cash saves lots annually...

I think that cash-only life style might, overall, cost more in terms of time (our time is money, right?), for the extra time spent having to go to the bank, standing in line for a teller, then doing a human/human transaction, and the possible inconvenience of not doing internet shopping.

But, I will be happy to be wrong. Haven't been doing cash-only long enough to really track the savings/cost difference as opposed to the days of plastic, ATM use, and internet purchases.

Re:I beat it all using custom hosts files

[nullchar]

I still want dnsmaq or Bind or something that serves up this hosts file to my entire LAN/WLAN on my gateway box.

It seems tiresome to manage this on every device, and impossible on some devices (game console, smart TV, etc).

Can common router firmwares like Tomato or OpenWRT manage this? Seems easy to setup DNS rules, but managing changes to the file is the hard part.

its obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

the hospitals, drug cos and drs sold her contact info

I beat those "anal exams" on PC's & Servers

[Anonymous Coward]

Smartphones too, via -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

* :)

Enjoy - it works, & is a 100% freebie no strings or tracking attached (better than browser addons by a MILE, & even shores up DNS redirection security issues, easily!)

APK

P.S.=> There ya go... apk

Hosts advantages over & WITH DNS

[Anonymous Coward]

"I still want dnsmaq or Bind or something that serves up this hosts file to my entire LAN/WLAN on my gateway box." - by nullchar (446050) on Sunday May 04, 2014 @02:45PM (#46914199)

Easily managed by ,b>chronjobs/scheduled tasks & a batch file/script across ALL pc & server LAN/WAN endpoint nodes (or even logon scripts) for transferring + managing hosts files across them - "automagically" & EASILY.

---

"Seems easy to setup DNS rules, but managing changes to the file is the hard part." - by nullchar (446050) on Sunday May 04, 2014 @02:45PM (#46914199)

Editing a hosts files' even easier (2 items per line easy) using any text editor even (for tinier changes like removing a line or commenting one off, or adding one etc.).

DNS has security issues: BIG ONES!

---

1.) Kaminsky redirection flaw (of which 99.999% of ISP's out there are NOT patched against mind you, even though a patch exists & has for almost a decade now)

2.) "Fastflux" &/or DynamicDNS using botnets

3.) DDoS DNS Amplification attacks... & more.

---

I steer clear of it.

Hosts actually FIX the redirection issues increasing your reliability online as well as security in the SAME stroke!

(As well as fixing security issues with fastflux & dynDNS using botnets (bonus))

Hosts also SPEED UP RESOLUTION faster than calling out to a remote DNS!

(Since they're locally cached in RAM, and are the 1st resolver queried by default (by the IP stack itself, a kernelmode subsystem)).

APK

P.S.=>

" Can common router firmwares like Tomato or OpenWRT manage this?" - by nullchar (446050) on Sunday May 04, 2014 @02:45PM (#46914199)

You *may* want to talk to a user here named HAIRYFEET: He's into putting data like large hosts files into routers (he's done it, or knows the exact ones you can or can't do it to) - we've talked of it before via email, but I don't do it myself (no need, OS does the job just fine using hosts)...

... apk

Deluded you are

[Anonymous Coward]

Well it seems trollish shills for APK are busy cramming the advertising up everyone on slashdot. Only a fool would trust some PoS software that relies on comment spam for getting noticed. Makes it seem dodgier than a $2 hooker

Re:Deluded you are

[Anonymous Coward]

So you've done better?

Re:Deluded you are

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. The first step was not to install APK.

I downloaded it from the provided links out of interest. Funnily enough both downloads get flagged as being infected. Call me paranoid but I don't think I'll trust my security to software that appears to be infected.

Re:Deluded you are

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you've written better? As far as that,see here http://yro.slashdot.org/commen... it answered your attempt at libel.

Re:Deluded you are

[Anonymous Coward]

For it to be libel it would have to be false. Both downloads were flagged by ESET as being infected. That post claims the source code has been looked at. Good for him. That doesn't explain it being flagged as infected. As the software is free why not make it open source. Prove it can be trusted, prove it is safe and make it open.

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[Anonymous Coward]

Free or not it's still spam. And I won't put any trust in software that someone advertises by spraying posts around like explosive diarrhea

Re:Illogical effete failed ad hominem attack

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope not a botnet master, advertiser, tracker, spammer, malware maker etc ... just a general user who thinks that your spam is just as intrusive and annoying as what you purport to stop.

Here's a question for you. Do you think copying and pasting your post everywhere makes you look good or professional?

Re:Illogical effete failed ad hominem attack

[Anonymous Coward]

Just to humor you I decided to download APK. Both installs got flagged as containing a virus.

Care to explain that little catch? Needless to say I did not go ahead with installing it.

I will answer your question

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you're an inferior competitor on the ropes flailing vainly against apk and his superior product. Apk makes you look bad and unprofessional being unable to validly technically disprove his 17 points enumerated here that give users of custom hosts files more speed, security, reliability, and anonymity. You're also off topic troll.

Re:I will answer your question

[Anonymous Coward]

Three points:
1. You didn't answer the question
2. Not a competitor
3. Not off topic when APK is spamming his (apparently infected) crapware

Re:I will answer your question

[Anonymous Coward]

You never prove apk's 17 points on hosts wrong http://start64.com/index.php?o... and you're an inferior competitor, malware maker, botnet master, spammer, tracker, advertiser, you name it that apk stops the best way possible that speeds you up noticeably and makes your connection to your favorite places more reliable and faster still by doing that last part? Yea. Ok. "We believe you". Not.

Re:Illogical effete failed ad hominem attack

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[Anonymous Coward]

You're off topic troll so stfu.

Re:Show me valid dated proof... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Downloaded 30 minutes ago from both links on the start64 site. ESET flags both as containing a virus.

Your case has not been made. You want to make it then make your source code public. The app is free so what do you have to lose? Put up or shut up as the saying goes.

Re:No, show me proof... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

I've provided all you need to reproduce the alert and submitted it to ESET for analysis. If, as you claim, it's a false positive then they'll resolve it. I've done the work for you already. But no doubt you'll dismiss what I'm saying as more trolling.

Disappointing that you still won't answer why you won't make it open source. Says a lot about how committed you actually are to security. As does your spamtastic approach to trying to get it noticed.

I'm done wasting anymore effort. Even if you're claims are correct I won't use software created by someone who acts like a petulant child.

Re:You're MORE THAN WELCOME

[Anonymous Coward]

Y'know, you lost most of your credibility when you (or your bots) decided to scan every other current slashdot story for any posting by K.S.K. and reply with 'Hey bigmouth: You're being called out' and whatnot.

In all honesty, it makes you look like kind of a twit, if not a nutter with an axe to grind.

Professionalism, fool. Can you show it?

Re:You're full of it... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Bit rich claiming someone is untrustworthy because they're an ac when you yourself are not just posting as an ac but spamming. Pot meet kettle.

Everyone always lies. Everyone alway spies.

[Anonymous Coward]

I had some back pain, went to the Doc. Paid cash for my copay. He gave me a prescription for a stronger NSAID. I filled it a my usual pharmacy. Paid cash copayment. 3 days later I get a call on my cell phone from a "market research firm" asking, "is there anyone in your household with pain"? Coincidence? I don't think so. No credit, debit, loyalty cards used. Just me and my doc, pharmacy & health ins co. So much for HIPAA.

I'm not tracked/stalked (here's how)

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

* :)

Enjoy - it works, & is a 100% freebie no strings or tracking attached (better than browser addons by a MILE, & even shores up DNS redirection security issues, easily!)

APK

P.S.=> There ya go... apk

Re:Another thing found her as well

[Anonymous Coward]

That's actually the best first post I've seen in a long time. Shouldn't have AC'd it. (But since you did, I'll AC the reply)

Custom hosts files blow away AdBlock

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

FACT!

APK

P.S.=> Custom hosts files give users more SPEED, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, & even ANONYMITY & do FAR MORE than AdBlock (or any single browser addon can, + from a FAR FASTER ring of operation with higher privelege in kernelmode, vs. SLOWER USERMODE browsers being slowed down even MORE by laying in addons increasing messagepassing overheads)... apk

Not spamming, & to quote Ultron?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Shutdown code, rejected: My programming ( http://start64.com/index.php?o... ) has advanced beyond YOUR commands: Beyond YOUR weakness" - Ultron 6 FROM -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...

* Not a thing you can do vs. it - & trolls most CERTAINLY can't disprove my points on hosts files giving users added speed, security, reliabliity, & anonymity online!.

(You know it, I KNOW IT - Anyone with 1/2 a brain on /. the past 2 yrs. does also, seeing you trolls harass me to no end - only to end up with EGG ON YOUR FACES!)

"The only way to a achieve peace, is thru the ELIMINATION of those who would perpetuate war (sockpuppet masters like YOU, troll -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p... ). THIS IS MY PROGRAMMING -> http://start64.com/index.php?o... & soon, I will be UNSTOPPABLE..." - Ultron 6 FROM -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...

Which is WHY I am annihilating you.

APK

P.S.=> Why you'd troll me used to boggle my mind. It's a good program that does the job & offers the benefits I enumerate in its download link. HOWEVER - It doesn't boggle my mind anymore why you trolls do:

You're malware makers/botnet masters (I block them refreshed daily from 12 reputable & reliable sources in the security community), advertisers (I block their ads which steal speed you PAID for & infect you with malicious scripts + track you), inferior competitors (Ghostery/AdBlock/RequestPolicy), or webmasters (Pissed I block ads - they're being exploited + I held off on letting my app out (not anymore after that)) & it isn't "Souled-Out" INFERIOR (Adblock & Ghostery) & it shores up security faults in DNS & speeds up resolution of your fav. sites hardcoded in it (faster than remote DNS lookups + secures you vs. DNS request logs + DNSBL)

.. apk

Math is required

[Anonymous Coward]

Any attempt to fight an inexpensive algorithm, with expensive cognitive activity, especially when you have no feedback on how you are effecting the system, is a losing proposition.

Depends on the quantities involved. If (value of not being tracked) > (increase in labor costs), then it's a winning proposition.

Quality control

[CmdrTamale]

Part of the problem of big data driving personalised advertising -- they do such a bad job of it.

Buy a car - they try to sell you a car, try to sell you insurance you already have because it's needed to register the car.

Buy a toilet cistern float valve, won't need another for 10-20 years, but the ads come.

I'd start worrying when the personalised ads are for shyster defense attorneys and bail bondsmen. And it's a surprise.

Or how to get a Russian visa, toot sweet. And, yes, I know it's French, but they spell it wrong.

Worst job in the world: Some poor telemarketer cold calling to sell funeral pre-payment plans --
"Big Data indicates you will die soon. Please waste your money on a funeral you will attend but not enjoy very much."

He called twice last week.
--
It was a dark and drunken night. Four shots sang out -- drink us.

Re:You're full of it... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Putting '... apk' at the end of his posts while still posting as an ac is hardly identifying himself. Is it actually him? Is it someone pretending to be him? Got a good answer to that or are you just full of shit and trolling?

look how easy it is: ... apk

Re:You're full of it... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

An ac talks posting ac = being bad? LMAO! At least apk does id himself. A no balls weasel like you won't.

learn from history

[Anonymous Coward]

it's a simple historic observation, any powerbase that can be abused sooner or later will be abused

given dat the data marketing companies, phone companies, credit card companies, etc now have about you is exactly the kind of data that organisations like the gestapo, stazi, kgb (or any other secret police organistation) where trying to gather... that kind of thing has _always_ led to bad abuse historically

given that the scale of information is so much greater and more intrusive now then has ever been managed before
when the abusive use materializes it's likely to generate one the worst oppression yet at some point

I'm not looking forward to it, but at this point I think it's inevitable, responses like yours make quite clear why there will have to be large scale abuse first before something will be done, people are just to blind to see the pattern, which means that history will repeat itself yet again

Re:You're full of it... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

That would also make you a no balls weasel. Just saying.

Apk/kpa is a deceitful loser.

[Anonymous Coward]

As in the parent post here, apk/kpa often posts without "signing" his posts to make it look like someone in the world agrees with him. Pseudo-sockpuppetry of the lowest, "no balls" kind is what apk/kpa brings to the discussion.

I'd sooner have the Chinese government run mycleanpc on my machine than to install apk's malware.

Re:Apk/kpa is a deceitful loser.

[Anonymous Coward]

LMAO: says the unidentifiable ac, pot calling a kettle black! Prove apk's hosts file engine's' a malware. You can't.

Re:Apk/kpa is a deceitful loser.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey apk/kpa, the burden of proof is on *you* to prove your crap software is malware-free. Why do you run from open sourcing it? Is it to hide your trojans?

Signed,

...akp

PS. Happy now that I'm as identifiable as you are?

Re:You're MORE THAN WELCOME

[Anonymous Coward]

KSK is just the latest name on the APK hit list. Check out how he's been harassing Zontar (9002) for one of the more extreme examples.

Re:Browser addons = WEAK vs. hosts

[Anonymous Coward]

K. S. Kyosuke: You've been called out (for tossing names) & you ran "forrest" from a fair challenge http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

Re:You're MORE THAN WELCOME

[Anonymous Coward]

Zontar created the TrollingForHostFiles account in direct response to your harassment, APK. (100+ troll posts *per day*? Imagine if you actually had a life...)

Zontar made absolutely no secret of this, either. (Check TFHF's journal for yourself.)

P.S. TrollingForHostFiles is now a shared account--Zontar thought his little gift to you should keep right on giving, even while he was on vacation. Have fun figuring out who's actually using it at any given time, bonehead. :D

Care to produce your PROOF?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of that vs. your liibelous anecdotal lies? Oh, of course not!

APK

P.S.=> IF you actually DID find that? I'll just get it removed (not a first, plenty of false positives hit HONEST GOOD DEVELOPERS (ask Nir Sofer of NIRSOFT or even Dr. Mark Russinovich as 2 PRIME examples thereof), & from "antivirus companies" whose SHIT doesn't even WORK vs. threats anymore -> http://it.slashdot.org/story/1... & I've already disproved ClamAV, ArcaVir, Norton/Symantec, Comodo, & Intel/McAfee - EASILY... see here -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen... )

... apk

Re:Show me valid dated proof... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll have it removed. I have before with Mr. Burn to Symantec/Norton, ArcaVir, ClamAV, Comodo, McAfee/Intel (false positives on the JOTTI online & VirusTotal online scanners, of 80 or so total used there in fact, only those came back fp's) - they rescinded it.

* "Been there, done that..." Successfully.

(Made my case perfectly - I'll just do it again...)

APK

P.S.=> Show us your proof, Mr. no balls "ac" unidentifiable poster... apk

"P.S.=> Show us your proof, Mr. no balls "ac" unidentifiable poster apk"

Oh, the irony!!!!