Ghostery

A tip for people who don't like to have surfing behavior spied upon. Ghostery is a free plugin for chrome, IE, firefox or whatever browser you use.

http://www.ghostery.com/download

Just here on FTR there are 5 apps spying on you. One is facebook, every website that has a facebook "like" link will send your surfing behavior to FB, even if you don't have FB open! The other 4 are twitter, google+, google analytics and Crazy Egg (tracks where you click on the site). Ghostery will block all these information gathering apps on every website you visit.

sweet using now

Been using it for a while with Firefox. It's pretty sweet.

Any reason to not "block all"?

just installed. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by kingnat

Any reason to not "block all"?

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You may have some things you want collecting information. If not, no.

I am using DoNotTrack with Firefox.

Can't remember exactly but I saw a comparison with Ghostery and it looked superior. Something about breaking less websites.

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Originally Posted by daviddem

I am using DoNotTrack with Firefox.

Can't remember exactly but I saw a comparison with Ghostery and it looked superior. Something about breaking less websites.

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I just found DoNotTrackMe... I think this is what you meant...

And yeah... 5 tracking sites on FTR now blocked.

;) Thanks.

Looks like they keep changing the name. Used to be DoNotTrackPlus, now it's DoNotTrackMe.

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Originally Posted by kingnat

Any reason to not "block all"?

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Well google analytics isn't so bad I think, for a site you support, or stuff that helps with their adds that pays for the site. But google already has so much information on you (through every search query, and it's linked to your name aswell if you have an account) that I just block everything.

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Originally Posted by daviddem

Looks like they keep changing the name. Used to be DoNotTrackPlus, now it's DoNotTrackMe.

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Isn't plus the payed version?

No, I don't think there is a paid version, the just changed the name. From the plugin page:

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*Note- Do Not Track Me was previously called DoNotTrackPlus or Do Not Track Plus

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installed - cheers dude

I was hoping this thread was about sexy ghosts.

Make it so.

Ghostery. I've been using it and I get the very real sense that it does something valuable, but I'm not entirely sure what that is.

Can anyone give the down and dirty explanation as to what ghostery anonymizes or blocks or tricks or out-wits?

For example when you are logged into your facebook or google accounts, and you are browsing other web pages in other tabs, if these web pages have a facebook or Google+ button, they will send info to Facebook or Google about you browsing this page and Facebook or Google will internally tie this to your account to later send you ads targeted towards your interests.

I think it is not just when they have a facebook or google+ button. I am unsure if Google analytics does the same or not.

Ghostery and DNTMe also block your browser from contacting other ad networks that are trying to profile you. They do not attempt to block all ads though (like the AdBlock plugin), they only prevent ad networks to profile you to send you targeted ads.

In a nutshell, from the DNTMe website:

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When you visit a website, that site tells your browser to contact all sorts of other companies to get information about what you do and who you are. DNTMe stops that data collection from happening by preventing your browser from communicating with these companies.

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Another unpleasant thing about Google is that they even scan your gmail emails to do the same thing. Nothing Ghostery or DNTMe can do about that. Same for the info you volunteer to your Facebook account...

These companies are truly keeping a profile of you (invisible to you) on their servers, and they use it for advertising purposes. I also think that law enforcement can subpoena all these companies to surrender your information, emails, profiles, etc under some circumstances.

More from the DNTMe website:

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The new DoNotTrackMe is more than just a makeover and new name. The app lives in the toolbar now so you can turn it on and off if it breaks a site you're browsing, and actively shows you what's been blocked on any given page. You can even dive into the details to see exactly what data they're trying to obtain and choose what you're okay with and what you want blocked. The extension also keeps social buttons and plugins active instead of removing them like similar extensions do. However, DoNotTrackMe blocks those social plugins from working until you click on them.

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cegg is typically for the ftr hp as opposed to the forums.

Why not use something like "NoScript"? I think its firefox only...but it autoblocks all applications (including those you listed) and every other application unless you specifically, and easily, allow it.

yeah, I think the thing with noscript is that when you start using it, almost everything is broken, and you have to allow every bit of each website you visit one by one, trying to discriminate whether the piece in question is legit or not. Too much work for the layman imo, and also for those who visit a lot of different websites when they search for information.

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Originally Posted by daviddem

yeah, I think the thing with noscript is that when you start using it, almost everything is broken, and you have to allow every bit of each website you visit one by one, trying to discriminate whether the piece in question is legit or not. Too much work for the layman imo, and also for those who visit a lot of different websites when they search for information.

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NoScript and DNTM are 2 different things.

I've been using NoScript for years and I rarely notice any bugginess. Yeah, you have to "allow" scripts to run on certain pages, but not often. I think it comes installed with a list of "trusted" web sites, but that only covers the most popular of sites. Seriously, it's one click per page, usually, and only the first time you go to that page. Calling it "difficult" is overstating the process.

General rule: if it's the name of the page you're on, then probably allow (at least temporarily). If it's a page you surf frequently, make the "allow" permanent. Otherwise, just allow stuff that you know is NOT a tracking/ad script and then "revoke temporary permissions" when you're done surfing that page.

All of this is single click stuff in NoScript... Which I love and heartily endorse to any Firefox user out there.

But how will I know what I want to buy if companies are not addressing my needs?

they're batch making clown costumes as we speak!

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Originally Posted by daviddem

For example when you are logged into your facebook or google accounts, and you are browsing other web pages in other tabs, if these web pages have a facebook or Google+ button, they will send info to Facebook or Google about you browsing this page and Facebook or Google will internally tie this to your account to later send you ads targeted towards your interests.

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You don't need to have FB open. Through cookies every page you visit which has a FB like button is logged and connected to your FB identity.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

You don't need to have FB open. Through cookies every page you visit which has a FB like button is logged and connected to your FB identity.

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This is true, I just checked. It's even worse than I thought then.

Online tracking explained

If you're not logged into FB or Google though, they can't possibly figure who is browsing at the time though, on shared machines where more than one person uses Facebook or Google?