Privacy and targeted advertising on websites

Support & Help Requests
#1

A couple of days ago, I went to booking.com to look for a hotel in Ypres, Belgium. This morning, I clicked a link on a Facebook page, which led to an article on the Independent newspaper’s website. At the bottom of this article are some adverts, sponsored by Taboola, one of which showed the very hotel I had looked at.

Is this something that Ubuntu MATE is doing, or something else. I’m using Google Chrome as a browser.

I have this problem at work, where I have no choice but to use Windows 10. I have everything possible turned off and I still get targeted adverts.

How do I delete Amazon stalker?
#2

It is Google and Facebook. They are fishing through your history and sending adverts to you based on that history. It’s actually really sinister.

If you can manage it, don’t use Chrome or Facebook. Also, don’t use Google search engine. Though, I suspect, this kind of thing will soon become standard practice across the web.

I make a point of now deleting my history at the end of every session, apart from things like, bank passwords etc. I also use Tor when I want to maintain some semblance of privacy. And I use Tor in conjunction with a VPN when I want a much higher level of privacy.

The truth is, though, the privacy war is now more or less lost for most people against big corporations and government. The best one can do is to keep privacy as high as possible and try to maintain anonymity. But, you can only really do that by logging in from a public access point with something like Tor

#3

Have a look at the “Ice Cat” browser: https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ . :white_sun_small_cloud:

#4

I use a simple extension called adblock plus on both firefox and google chrome and it blocks most ads as well as popups and can’t see as it slows the browser down at all.I also have firefox set to delete all history and cookies when i close it and on google as steve said i clear all the history and have it set to remove cookies when closed.Theres another extension called no-script i tried but it did as said i couldn’t get alot of pages to load at all so I just stick with adblock plus.Firefox and chrome can be set up pretty secure if you go into the settings and as steve also said if you really want privacy tor is a great way to go.

#5

Most sites track what you view online, doesn’t matter which OS you use, trough lately that changed to worst too.

Whenever you are login into sites like google, facebook and many others they can track you and connect things you search and sites you visit to you personally. On every site you see fb like or google ads or g+ and such that goes back to your account, may even happen when you are not login.

I use Mozilla Firefox and few add-ons (those might be also available in Chrome)

uBlock Origin - for blocking ads, can be set to enable/disable on any site you go to. From their site Finally, an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory. It’s Open source with public license (GPLv3).
There is also Disconnect which is open source, that block otherwise invisible websites that track your search and browsing history.
or Privacy Badger this one don’t block anything at the start, but learn with use. If a domain appears to be tracking you on multiple websites, Privacy Badger automatically blocks your request from being sent to the tracking domain.
and HTTPS Everywhere automatically enables HTTPS encryption when possible.

You can also enable “Do not track” in Firefox and use new and improved Private browsing when search for gifts and holidays as some if not most of the shops and booking sites can set your rate differently depending what you visit before.

Here you can read and chose some more privacy related stuff, but be careful if you decide to change some of the additional stuff in Firefox as it may break some of the browser functionality.

You can also follow those 7 Steps To Digital Security one of them says What’s Secure Today May Not Be Secure Tomorrow

1 Like
#6

It really is sinister!

I’ll take a look at Tor. My router has the ability to direct stuff through Tor, though it’s not something I have looked at.

I use FB a lot to keep in touch with friends across the globe. I’ve unchecked all advert preferences, but I suspect this will not be enough!

I’ll take a look at “Ice Cat” @alpinejohn Thanks for the suggestion.

I’m using ‘Adblock’ on Chrome, @straycat_tim Is ‘Adblock Plus’ better for this?

I’ll also take a look at your suggestions, @ele

Many thanks everybody!

#7

As fas as FB is concerned, do you think you and your friends could get along with Diaspora [https://diasporafoundation.org/] ?

This might take a few of your friends out of their comfort zones…

Then again they might be interested.

2 Likes
#8

This would be great! However, I think FB is so embedded across the entire world now that it will take some effort to replace it with anything else.

#9

You cannot change the world, you can only try and change yourself. That can be a difficult task at times, at least for some of us. :slight_smile:. Don’t forget, the impossible is usually that which has not yet been tried (hard enough).

Never give up!

#10

That’s my problem! I believe the world can be changed if enough people are actively in favour. But that’s a separate story. The changes I’ve made this morning seem to be helping.

#11

Those kind of things don’t happen overnight, but I just read that Fb is complaining that people don’t share enough about themselves any more. So maybe things are already changing :wink:

I agree with @alpinejohn. You can only change yourself, even if it’s a lot easier to tell others how/what to change then yourself.

You can say to your friends, hey I’m trying this new site/program, do you want to join me.

1 Like
#12

I’ve signed up to diaspora. Will let you all know how it goes getting my mates to sign up as well…:slight_smile:

#13

Just for clarity, Ubuntu MATE does not (and will never) harvest your online activity. I recommend you install the Privacy Badger browser extension.

4 Likes
#14

Thanks @Wimpy. I thought that was the case. I’ve taken steps to prevent this from happening through the browser.

1 Like
#15

How does privacy badger compare to ublock, ghostery, & no script?

This browser is great for privacy & shortcut keys.

#16

@rizado: Privacy Badger dynamically updates its block list based on observed behavior of domains.
So if a website is, in effect, tracking you but is not listed in the static lists used by uBlock & company it will still be detected and automatically blocked by Privacy Badger after a while.
It's a great addon from the superheros of the Internet.

2 Likes
#17

This is slightly off topic but Google look set to have their behind soundly spanked by the EU!:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-09/eu-s-android-probe-said-to-advance-as-rivals-censor-evidence-ill3uqi8

#18

It doesn’t block anything from the start, but it’s checking what sites you visit and if they respect Don’t Track policy, otherwise they get blocked and it doesn’t require any setups from the user. It also works for users rather then advertisers.

For more read their FAQ, it answer this question and many more. You can find the link in my post above.

I would still be using uBlock Origin together with it for now trough.