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Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

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Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#51

Post by pjc50 »

spindritf wrote: post #40

The company opted to ignore the Do Not Track setting on Web browsers ... other Internet behemoths, including Google and Yahoo, have publicly confirmed that they also ignore Do Not Track Am I the only one bothered by the silliness of "Do Not Track"? Or even worse, the EU cookie law? You have a browser that leaks all kinds of info[1] about itself, tells everyone where you came from (sends referral), takes cookies from…

The browser giving information automatically is not trivial to fix; the vast majority of users don't want the equivalent of a UAC popup every time they try to use a web app that has session cookies, for example. So the browser gives info by default because it's useful for making certain things work.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#52

Post by silverbax88 »

ben0x539 wrote: post #50
spindritf wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you wear an ID around your neck? Do you walk into an establishment, introduce yourself, tell the keeper where you came from, when was the last time you visited, check in with an inter-business tracking device, and then ask them to forget all that? This is what a browser with (or more appropriately, on) DNT is doing. Long way from camouflage. And offline, we should also employ techniques like randomizing MAC addres…

No, that stuff only happens when I pay with my credit card, I guess.

And use a frequent shopper card.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#53

Post by coldpie »

hnha wrote: post #46
Ardren wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AdBlock Plus wants to encourage non obtrusive advertising. Anyone can apply to have their ads/website added to the acceptable-ads whitelist. Larger companies are charged a maintenance fee. There is a single checkbox in the options to toggle the whitelist, as well as a link to filter list being used and documentation. Source: https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads

Yeah, but silent tracking in the background does not seem obstructive by their definition.

Well, it is AdBlock, not TrackingBlock. There are other extensions out there to help with that problem. Popular ones are NoScript (which improves the web in many more ways, as well) and Ghostery.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#54

Post by TallGuyShort »

spindritf wrote: post #49
ben0x539 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around, colluding to enable each other to videotape my every step for analytics purpose. Sure, there's some technical steps that can be taken but there's also a social or cultural dimension to what behavior is popularly a…

Do you wear an ID around your neck? Do you walk into an establishment, introduce yourself, tell the keeper where you came from, when was the last time you visited, check in with an inter-business tracking device, and then ask them to forget all that? This is what a browser with (or more appropriately, on) DNT is doing. Long way from camouflage. And offline, we should also employ techniques like randomizing MAC addres…

Hmm... what if I re-post a legal-sounding statement as my status that refuses to give Facebook permission to use my information? That would work, right?

http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacy.asp

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#55

Post by blumkvist »

ben0x539 wrote: post #47
spindritf wrote: post #40

The company opted to ignore the Do Not Track setting on Web browsers ... other Internet behemoths, including Google and Yahoo, have publicly confirmed that they also ignore Do Not Track Am I the only one bothered by the silliness of "Do Not Track"? Or even worse, the EU cookie law? You have a browser that leaks all kinds of info[1] about itself, tells everyone where you came from (sends referral), takes cookies from…

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around, colluding to enable each other to videotape my every step for analytics purpose. Sure, there's some technical steps that can be taken but there's also a social or cultural dimension to what behavior is popularly a…

Retail stores most definitely do follow you around and track every move you make in their store and on the parking lot.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#56

Post by zimbatm »

ben0x539 wrote: post #47
spindritf wrote: post #40

The company opted to ignore the Do Not Track setting on Web browsers ... other Internet behemoths, including Google and Yahoo, have publicly confirmed that they also ignore Do Not Track Am I the only one bothered by the silliness of "Do Not Track"? Or even worse, the EU cookie law? You have a browser that leaks all kinds of info[1] about itself, tells everyone where you came from (sends referral), takes cookies from…

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around, colluding to enable each other to videotape my every step for analytics purpose. Sure, there's some technical steps that can be taken but there's also a social or cultural dimension to what behavior is popularly a…

> yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around

Hmm no. It's just harder to do but they are working on it. Any big shop uses tons of tracking on every level. Pay by CC or use your fidelity card, facial tracking, MAC address of your phone. In London a company was providing the phone tracking service on the streets, installed on their bins, until they got shot down by the government.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#57

Post by GrinningFool »

fchollet wrote: post #9
tech-no-logical wrote: post #4

and to all site owners moaning about people using adblock : this is why we can't have nice things. as long as policies like this exist, I'll block anything remotely able to track me.

It is very difficult to get somebody to understand something when they have some amount of income depending on not understanding it. Of course site owners are always going to stand behind the ad-supported model of the web, even though it creates all the wrong incentives for content creators and massively degrades the user experience. And generally, degrades the very value proposition of the web. (disclaimer: I run a…

I will happily accept advertisements as long as they are self-hosted in a way that doesn't report back to any external entity.

The problem [for me] is not the advertising as long as it's reasonably done (static, textual, non-invasive). It's the fact that every third party has their own behaviours, and I have no idea what any of them are. I instead must rely on the judgement of the person running the site - and most of them appear fairly unaware of the privacy implications associated with both advertisements and analytics services.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#58

Post by mantraxD »

ben0x539 wrote: post #47
spindritf wrote: post #40

The company opted to ignore the Do Not Track setting on Web browsers ... other Internet behemoths, including Google and Yahoo, have publicly confirmed that they also ignore Do Not Track Am I the only one bothered by the silliness of "Do Not Track"? Or even worse, the EU cookie law? You have a browser that leaks all kinds of info[1] about itself, tells everyone where you came from (sends referral), takes cookies from…

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around, colluding to enable each other to videotape my every step for analytics purpose. Sure, there's some technical steps that can be taken but there's also a social or cultural dimension to what behavior is popularly a…

Don't you know almost every shop tracks you by your CC, and they literally put up fake wireless networks, so they can track your phone MAC address when you walk around a store?

The world on the street is exactly as cynical as the one online. It's the same world. Online it's just easier to track people even more, so they get tracked even more.

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#59

Post by Lagged2Death »

ben0x539 wrote: post #47
spindritf wrote: post #40

The company opted to ignore the Do Not Track setting on Web browsers ... other Internet behemoths, including Google and Yahoo, have publicly confirmed that they also ignore Do Not Track Am I the only one bothered by the silliness of "Do Not Track"? Or even worse, the EU cookie law? You have a browser that leaks all kinds of info[1] about itself, tells everyone where you came from (sends referral), takes cookies from…

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around, colluding to enable each other to videotape my every step for analytics purpose. Sure, there's some technical steps that can be taken but there's also a social or cultural dimension to what behavior is popularly a…

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around...

It's a matter of cost/benefit to the businesses, that's all. When a business can track customers cheaply and finds the data useful, they just do it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/business/attention-shopper...

Re: Adblock Plus gives Facebook users a way to block its extended tracking efforts

#60

Post by manishsharan »

ben0x539 wrote: post #47
spindritf wrote: post #40

The company opted to ignore the Do Not Track setting on Web browsers ... other Internet behemoths, including Google and Yahoo, have publicly confirmed that they also ignore Do Not Track Am I the only one bothered by the silliness of "Do Not Track"? Or even worse, the EU cookie law? You have a browser that leaks all kinds of info[1] about itself, tells everyone where you came from (sends referral), takes cookies from…

I also walk around town completely uncamouflaged, voluntarily displaying my uniquely identifiable face and whatnot, and yet somehow most businesses can still restrain themselves and do not follow me around, colluding to enable each other to videotape my every step for analytics purpose. Sure, there's some technical steps that can be taken but there's also a social or cultural dimension to what behavior is popularly a…

If you use any credit card, points or frequent shoppers card or participate in loyalty program, you are being tracked. If you use a e-coupon, you are being tracked. They are not colluding -- they collect this information and had it to the data mining companies.

Why do you think the buzz around big data exists ? Its not just for curing cancer ; its mostly to track and model individual consumer behavior.

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