June 30, 2014
Have you noticed that you see after the purchase of shoes online, ads free like shoes on seemingly every site you visit? It is not a coincidence. You're being watched by Internet marketing experts. They do their business for any information about you to serve advertising targeted to your interests.
Here are six strategies:
1. they are fleeing your data.
Whenever you make a purchase, create an online account or give your name and your email address to a Web site, you are accepting a mountain of small print - and probably voluntary to be tracked, too. What you do when you are logged into this account also gets connected and linked to your identity.
2. they "revise" your e-mail and instant messages.
Check the terms of free services and you will find that services scan your messages for key words. This gives them a gold mine of private data, in addition to your registration information. Discover the fine print in the privacy policy of Yahoo for example: https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/mail/ymailfaq/
3. they know that you wear your location on your sleeve.
Your computer sends an IP address that indicates the Web sites which provide content. Because the IP addresses are assigned by geography, marketing uses to get a general idea of your location. This is why you can see ads for "Hot babes in [name of City] waiting to meet you!"
4. they milk your cookies.
Cookies are pieces of code that enables websites to keep track of you over time. Some cookies are needed, for example, to remember what is in your shopping cart when you shop online. But many Web sites place cookies from tracking in your browser just to follow your movements on the Internet.
5. they 'dust' for fingerprints.
Browsers are as unique as the people using them. Different time settings, add ons and privacy preferences create fingerprints that are useful in profiling and monitoring you. Article ghacks explains how: http://www.ghacks.net/2013/10/11/least-1-top-10000-websites-use-fingerprinting-track-users/
6. they fit other stealth trackers.
Web beacons, pixel trackers and flash cookies are some of the other creative stuff specialists of marketing have imagined to discreetly monitor consumers.
Solutions
Fortunately, you can give Internet trackers the slip to reduce your footprint by tracking online. Here's how:
• Search for privacy-friendly alternatives.
A small but growing number of Web sites promise to not save your visits or follow you. (Yes, they really exist - Katherine has helped create a.) See: www.StartPage.com)
• Manage cookies.
Configure your browser privacy options to refuse third-party cookies, block cookies from marketing and delete cookies whenever you close your browser. These instructions explain how to do this in most browsers:
Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox/privacy-and-security/cookies
Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en&ref_topic=3421433
Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/delete-manage-cookies#ie= ie-11
Safari: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH17191
• Use your browser privacy options.
If you need to visit known sites to track visitors, keep with the parameter "do not follow. (Unfortunately, some sites don't honor the setting.)
• Visit Web sites using a proxy.
A proxy retrieves the information for you to keep you anonymous. Watch the short video of YouTube of Katherine on the free StartPage proxy.
• Use Ghostery to block trackers, such as web beacons.
New fashion trackers are stealth, but allows to Ghostery (www.ghostery.com) of equal opportunities. It shows that tries to follow you and allows you to crush these nasty buggers.
You are wondering if you should hardly protect you online tracking? Don't miss our next article, where we will tell you the importance of privacy online - much!
Photo credit: Digitalista/Bigstock.com, Ghostery.com
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