I work in the ad industry. We take pains to make sure that everything is hashed as early in the process as possible, so we're basically just correlating hashes with each other. There's nothing personally identifiable.
I understand that it sounds creepy, but it's worth noting that advertising is what pays for all the free content you enjoy on the internet.
EDIT: Downvoted for comments from the industry. Thanks! Let me know if there's any questions I can answer for you guys.
The thing I have with collecting data, even if depersonalized, is that it's practically taken without consent. I'm completely fine, for example, with giving detailed, but anonymous usage statistics to Mozilla, because they nicely asked me if they may do that, to improve Firefox. I'm not okay with people just "taking" those statistics from me.
Tracking should be opt-in, not opt-out. I shouldn't have to tell you to stop tracking me, you should need to get my consent to start tracking me.
>it's worth noting that advertising is what pays for all the free content you enjoy on the internet
Which is why I whitelist trustworthy domains I frequent in Adblock Plus. Again, opt-in.
Also, advertisement need not necessarily be targeted. You can run generalized ads just as well. Sure, it might not be as profitable, but if the trade-off for more profit is less privacy, then I'm afraid I'll give priority to the latter.
> I understand that it sounds creepy, but it's worth noting that advertising is what pays for all the free content you enjoy on the internet.
I found your statement bit cocky, but you may not see it the same way since you work "in the field".
And you are pretty much wrong. Large part of web is free. Wikipedia? Sure they ask for money and every year they come up with just enough, since people appreciate free content and asked are willing to donate. Heck, people even write free software that you can download from websites that are free of ads [Apache is the first thing came to my mind].
I am sure web would look different have Google not based its business model on advertising, etc, but I would never say that the internet fundamentals are based on paid advertise-displaying model. I don't believe Tim thought it will or should as well.
As if to demonstrate the point, the page does not load any content unless javascript is turned on [Firefox], even though the server does not require it in order to provide the article text.
One of the questions in my mind is in regards to Chrome, which I have not used for some time. Does it still send keystrokes from the address/search bar to Google servers in order to provide suggestions?
Yes, there is some overlap in functionality. And getting the configurations correct can be a minor pain (none of them are ready to go after install).
I have also found the Chromium version of Ghostery cannot be configured to block DoubleClick tracking. :-( So much for using Chrome-based browsers as my main browser.
Another good add-on to consider is RequestPolicy. It controls cross-site requests and thus blocks a lot of stuff before it even loads. It's a nice complement to NoScript.
If you don't like all of the social media buttons (which are also trackers and are, in my opinion, an eyesore), consider subscribing to the Antisocial filter list[2] for ABP. It blocks all of these pesky, useless annoyances and removes them from sight.
Oh, and btw: Chrome is Chromium based, not the other way round. ;)
Is there any add-on similar to TrackMeNot which can regularly send request for random web pages and obfuscate my internet history? TrackMeNot does similar thing for search engines.
Or just read the "Why Should You Care" section and really think about it. Is it so bad? Do they have your gramma's name and address and are they sending the Depends cops over to check if she's peed herself? No, they have a bunch of anonymous data that they never attach to you personally.
Everyone's trying to track YOU? NO, that's just some sort of weird narcissist paranoia on your behalf. Nobody is trying to track YOU. Everyone is trying to track EVERYONE. YOUR information is worthless on its own. NO marketer cares about YOU personally and YOUR data is not worth anything negotiable.
[+] [-] jbooth|14 years ago|reply
I understand that it sounds creepy, but it's worth noting that advertising is what pays for all the free content you enjoy on the internet.
EDIT: Downvoted for comments from the industry. Thanks! Let me know if there's any questions I can answer for you guys.
[+] [-] slowpoke|14 years ago|reply
Tracking should be opt-in, not opt-out. I shouldn't have to tell you to stop tracking me, you should need to get my consent to start tracking me.
>it's worth noting that advertising is what pays for all the free content you enjoy on the internet
Which is why I whitelist trustworthy domains I frequent in Adblock Plus. Again, opt-in.
Also, advertisement need not necessarily be targeted. You can run generalized ads just as well. Sure, it might not be as profitable, but if the trade-off for more profit is less privacy, then I'm afraid I'll give priority to the latter.
[+] [-] dawgr|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bobds|14 years ago|reply
How about k-anonymity?
[+] [-] joering2|14 years ago|reply
I found your statement bit cocky, but you may not see it the same way since you work "in the field".
And you are pretty much wrong. Large part of web is free. Wikipedia? Sure they ask for money and every year they come up with just enough, since people appreciate free content and asked are willing to donate. Heck, people even write free software that you can download from websites that are free of ads [Apache is the first thing came to my mind].
I am sure web would look different have Google not based its business model on advertising, etc, but I would never say that the internet fundamentals are based on paid advertise-displaying model. I don't believe Tim thought it will or should as well.
[+] [-] mrspeaker|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jgw|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brudgers|14 years ago|reply
One of the questions in my mind is in regards to Chrome, which I have not used for some time. Does it still send keystrokes from the address/search bar to Google servers in order to provide suggestions?
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nodata|14 years ago|reply
With Ghostery and ABP installed, why is Priv3 also required?
[+] [-] greyman|14 years ago|reply
BTW, it is necessary to use ABP, when I have Ghostery installed? (I don't intent to block ads, unless they actively track me, like Adsense, etc.)
[+] [-] FellowesQi2014|14 years ago|reply
* Adblock Plus
* BetterPrivacy
* Ghostery
* NoScript
* PrivacyChoice TrackerBlock
* QuickJava
* User Agent Switcher
Yes, there is some overlap in functionality. And getting the configurations correct can be a minor pain (none of them are ready to go after install).
I have also found the Chromium version of Ghostery cannot be configured to block DoubleClick tracking. :-( So much for using Chrome-based browsers as my main browser.
[+] [-] slowpoke|14 years ago|reply
If you don't like all of the social media buttons (which are also trackers and are, in my opinion, an eyesore), consider subscribing to the Antisocial filter list[2] for ABP. It blocks all of these pesky, useless annoyances and removes them from sight.
Oh, and btw: Chrome is Chromium based, not the other way round. ;)
[1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/requestpolicy...
[2]: http://adversity.uk.to/
[+] [-] dharmach|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greyman|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] barkingtoad|14 years ago|reply
If you're scared, get a dog.
Or just read the "Why Should You Care" section and really think about it. Is it so bad? Do they have your gramma's name and address and are they sending the Depends cops over to check if she's peed herself? No, they have a bunch of anonymous data that they never attach to you personally.
Everyone's trying to track YOU? NO, that's just some sort of weird narcissist paranoia on your behalf. Nobody is trying to track YOU. Everyone is trying to track EVERYONE. YOUR information is worthless on its own. NO marketer cares about YOU personally and YOUR data is not worth anything negotiable.
If you're scared, get a dog.
[+] [-] nodata|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aw3c2|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] luser001|14 years ago|reply
I used to think this, but the Target article on NY Times changed my mind. I've started locking down all my computers.