Hoping someone can explain how we can minimize this activity. I am not happy when I log in to a site and see ads for something I looked for earlier in the day.

Creepy.

Agree, Bob. Any technies have thoughts on this? Private browsing, best way to do it, etc.?

The strength of your necessary defense depends somewhat on the strength of the attack, and on how much you care.

Two basic things are to vary what IP address you come in from and to practice cookie management. You can vary what browser and what machine you appear to be using.

You can also deliberately set up personas and wait to see how they approach the black you, the white you, the redhead you, etc.

Um, Amy, you know you've got ads on this very page that seem to be targeted to me...

I've found that DNT and Adblock work pretty well together.

https://abine.com/index.html

A good browser will let you configure it to delete all cookies when you close it.

Flash can be used to track you too. It's a little trickier to block.

http://www.ghacks.net/2013/02/01/disable-third-party-flash-cookies-that-track-you-on-the-internet/

I know you use a Mac. But see if AdBlock Plus and Ghostery will work in your browser.

AdBlock kills about 95% of the ads; and Ghostery stops most cookies and cross-site site tracking of where you surf.

Clinky - yep, I've noticed that for a while - ironic isn't it?

Amy posts a blog about the "scandal" surrounding 1st world giving to orphanages and one of those ads is "food for orphans."

I'm not faulting Amy or anything - she does, after all, write for more than just the love of it. Ads help pay the bills.

However, I would think they might try to come up with a better software program that does NOT link their ad to something critical of their "business." I now going to associate Amy's criticism (and a criticism I so agree with) with that non-profit. That most certainly isn't what they were hoping to place into my mind by placing that ad next to her blog post.

> Hoping someone can explain how we can
> minimize this activity.

Who's your blog buddy, B.I.T.? Who's your blog friend?

*I* am!… Ol' Uncle Cridmo! Let's begin:

PART A: Watch the first 15 minutes of this.

In an age of ferocious government intrusion into the deepest personal thinking of every breathing human and most of the dead ones, understand that the tools of the most intimate communication by the average man on the street were designed by advertising companies.

Apple did well in computers, but Steve Jobs REALLY wanted to be in the advertising business. Advertising will never end. It's 24/7. It works on rich people and on poor people. Even a tiny slice of advertising revenue can have you farting through silk for ten lifetimes.

Perhaps the most vicious indictment of television culture, and that's a wiiiiiiide rainbow, would be that its stupidities convinced Americans that they were too smart to be afraid of advertising.

And now, you're soaking in it.

Got that? Government is the bad guys, and commerce is the bad guys, nobody loves you and you're all alone. That's Part 1.

PART B: Use Tor.

I have three browsers. (Actually, like, 6, but let's keep this simple.)

1. Tor, for when I don't trust nobody with nuthin'. It locks out scripts and other things and can be slow to use, but every time it slows down, I know I'm being protected from something. You must NOT install ANY extensions.

2. Portable Firefox, configured to erase all cookies at the end of each session, and with these extensions:

Ad Block Plus
HTTPS Everywhere
NoScript
Ghostery

That's my daily driver, the one for sites like Amy's. You MUST use these extensions.

3. Google Chrome Portable. Configured for convenient Gmail login and used for nothing else.

4. Opera Portable, Iron Portable, Palemoon Portable, etc. For when the usual tools won't work. Copy to desktop, use once, shred the copy.

> Um, Amy, you know you've got ads on
> this very page that seem to be
> targeted to me...

Clinky, try to understand exactly how ironic this is.

Amy doesn't "got" anything "targeted" to you or to anyone else. Your personalized communication with her advertisers is direct: She doesn't know anything about it, and couldn't really watch it happen even if she wanted to.

And you're being just as slutty with every website you visit.

Don't come cryin'.

Shorter Uncle Cridster: "The Internet: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

Thanks Crid.

Sarcasm aside, we have to remember how sparkly and cute these websites and telephones are.

Go back to the introduction YouTubes for the Iphone and the Ipad and all the rest. Shiny, colorful icons dancing on sweet little screens that you tap with your own darling fingertips!

Of course this was all about advertising.

And of course it's not about privacy.

First: I don't have a problem with targeted ads. Ads are how the internet pays for itself, and if I have to see ads, I'd just as soon have them be possibly useful to me. I want Amy to be able to make money from this blog, so that I continue to enjoy it.

Also: I generally operate under the assumption that nothing is private on the internet. When I look at a page, my computer is sending a request to the owner of that page, and that request can be recorded.

So I don't mind the targeted ads, I'm just saying...

...really, if you think you think this kind of data mining-based advertising is a bad thing, then don't take money from Google to let them do it on a web page with your name on it.

I do understand though, that we live in a world where you can't always agree philosophically with everyone you do business with...

Thanks Clinky. I think you nailed it for me except I'm a paranoid type and I freak out emotionally every now and then. (love going to my usual places at the usual time BY DIFFERENT ROUTES - as if ...)

Erase your cookies, that's all I ask.

Once a day, minimum.

Tonight--------

A friend is gonna send me a large collection of data from the East Coast. I bought him two new disk drives from Newegg.

It insisted on creating and ACCOUNT (even though I explicitly used 'guest purchase' options), because I used a credit card from my credit union. I ask the chat bot to delete it, and was told I should just fill it with bogus info and forget about it.

Everyone involved —bankers, manufacturers, retailers, regulators— ALL OF THEM want to track and share data about the things I buy.

This is madness. This is insanity.