I tried once looking at tractors (something I would never be interested in buying) as an experiment on some website and was amused to see ads for tractors for a few days. If you ever get tired of seeing the ads you get, you can mix it up for a little fun. I never click on any kind of ad on the internet, even if it is something I might like, click off ads whenever possible, and refuse to watch videos that make you watch an ad first (including the NYT). I'll try some of the tips in this article and in the comments.
14
When I've bought, say, a rake, and the internet keep showing me ads for rakes, I feel kind of bad for it. Like: "Oh, um. Sorry. I kinda already said I'd go to the prom with someone else...Okay, see you around the quad..."
21
The info here is not very helpful. I have an Android device, can't find my advertising ID anywhere in Google settings. Disconnect.me is for Samsung devices. There is no bulk removal of ad or search history on my Android tablet, Google forces you to do each and every one manually.
14
Meanwhile, even though I am a subscriber and pay for NY Times content, the NY TImes constantly prompts me to turn off my ad-blocker so that they can increase their revenue! I won't. I find Ghostery and Ad-Block provide excellent ad-shielding. I installed both years ago when, having bought a couple of bras online, I was followed by bra ads for weeks! As an IT professional myself, I was so incensed by the stupidity of this (why would I be in the market for a new bra having just bought some?) that I researched ad-blockers and tracker-blockers. Ghostery and ABP have been my online protectors ever since.
45
I have long BEGGED the Times to provide an option for a higher monthly subscription fee in return for NO ADs but they keep ignoring my suggestion! Seriously, I would pay up to $50 a month for an ad-less version and bet others would too!
47
There is NO 'advertising' item in my privacy menu.
Does the author work for an ad agency?
5
I use an ad-blocker and pay my $20 a month to read the NY Times-----and, greedy newspaper that this is, I am rewarded with a banner asking to see the ads I have blocked. FOR SHAME New York Times! I am a paying customer and that should be enough for you!
120
The overwhelming vast majority of ads I see everyday are for products I cannot buy.
Mylantra? Feminine bladder protection? Geico (I do not drive). The list goes on and on.
I wish I could get ads for products I have not heard of and could actually purchase. And I wish I only had to watch someone's damn ad once instead of several times in one show. If I ever decide to drive again and need car insurance, Geico will be my last choice because of their annoying non-stop ads on t.v., flying banners over my city, and even putting billboards on trucks and driving them around. Every time I see that stupid little lizard, I think of the wonderful iguana en mole that I once ate in Mexico.
28
Two cheers for Reader Pick #1. I too use an ad-blocker and have been doing so for years. Have to keep updating my ad-blocker as the spy-vs-spy game between these browser extensions and the websites continues.
As for the NYT, this is the ONLY media site to which I pay to subscribe. Everybody else tries to get me to pay. Some block me after an article or two. Their loss, I believe, since the web is full of fungible media sites.
NYT, brilliant as it is, has come closer to figuring out the web, but ain't there yet. That their servers know who is logged in and who is not, and that they run ads to their subscribers, says either they don't understand the web, or that media is truly dead in the age of the web.
That is, if the only media worth paying for a subscription can't fund itself through those subscriptions alone, and must bombard its paying users with ads to keep the lights on, these are sad, sad days for the Grey Lady.
I, for one, will shed a tear on the day the NYT goes the way of MySpace.
15
I'd be curious to know what the subscription cost increase would have to be for NYTs to be able to offer a version without ads. You might be surprised to find that an substantial percentage of regular viewers might be willing to pay to avoid having their time wasted.
97
Hah, too funny coming from the NYT, whose site is always prompting me to turn OFF the ad blocker I have installed!
For the record, it's blocking 36 from this page.
I use AdBlock - who I gladly make an annual donation. And I pay for my NYT subscription too.
50
A simple reference to the Digital Advertising Alliance optout page would have sufficed here. Every relevant interest-based advertising service in the US has an opt-out reference there where you can 'select all' and opt-out in less than a minute. This article should be updated to reference that.
21
Kind of ironic... before I could read this article I had to click through a pop up ad, and then scroll through a few more ads. None of them pitched anything that even remotely interests me. In fact, The NY Times might want to rethink their remarking strategy since the ads I get on the website are completely disconnected from anything I’m interested in and seemingly unrelated to other sites I visit. Weird specialized dog apparel when I don’t have a dog?
31
The ad blocker "uBlock Origin" has been working extremely well for me. Occasionally I see a banner at the bottom of the NY Times web page, "Allow Ads on NY Times." Sorry; I sympathize with the NYT financial situation, but no. The flood of animated ads was ruining my NYT experience (and other websites too); it's your own fault for inundating us with ads; I would never go back. If the NYT ever faces bankruptcy, I would be willing to pay an extra $5 a month ($20 total) for an ad-free NYT site. That's as far as I will compromise.
29
The articles that have to download on the NYT, which is now a majority, are impossible to read because of the ad interruptions. Try to scroll down to read, and you have to deal with for 30 seconds or longer. I no longer try to read these articles, and considered cancelling my subscription since half the content is unreadable. Not a good look, NYT.
44
On Android try Block This! . Get it from their website. You won't find it in the Google store.
5
These ads remind me of the overbearing sales people at the department stores of yesteryear. They follow you around persistently. We need a way to say to the internet "no thank you, I'm just browsing."
15
I wish the ads were better targeted! I have to laugh at ads for shoes that follow me around even after I rejected the purchase. Ad blockers no longer work, because many of the free websites force you to drop the ad blocker to view the website. I pay virtually no attention to the ads.
3
First, use Ad Blocker. Next, use Duck Duck Go, or some other search engine that doesn't keep track of you. If I somehow incur an unwanted ad, I never buy their product. Then, just for fun, I start looking up wacky items that make no sense, or are just a bit "adult" in nature.
Since it appears we can't get away from this intrusiveness, why not have some fun with it. When advertisers realize targeted ads aren't working, perhaps they'll stop following us. It's all about money. Just don't give them any.
12
Get an ad blocker. end of story
4
There are two easier methods to avoid becoming a victim of these voracious internet predators:
1. Technical method: Use the Firefox browser and set it to "Never remember history". No history, no cookies, only random ads, which can also be blocked. There will be side effects, some beneficial and some a minor inconvenience. Beneficial, no one knows for sure who you are anymore. No more tracking, analyzing, monetizing you as an individual. No more "Stay logged in". Inconvenience, you would need to login every time, and if it was your bank, provide additional confirmation. This inconvenience can be reduced by using a different browser (say Internet explorer) which is set to remember history. Use it in a limited way, for banking, etc.
2. Behavioral method: if you are shopping on the internet and see something interesting, do not buy it immediately. Put it on a wish-list -- either a paper one or say the Amazon wish-list. Chances are, if you look at it after a day or two, the urge to gratify yourself might have gone away.
Cell phones require some additional involved steps, but it can be done. Use your car GPS for navigation and uninstall / disable anything that is not an absolute requirement for functioning in your world.
8
It’s particularly annoying to have searched for a product on the internet, identified what you want, purchased it, then be stalked for months afterwards by ads for something you don’t need any more.
9
@Dave DiRoma - lol, this is what I notice. A while back, I bought a set of harmonicas and then for a while after, I kept seeing ads for harmonicas:)
4
Worry not, it is only surveillance capitalism. Sort of makes sense. If you search vacation, then under SC, expect hotels and airline ads.
3
There’s a very easy way for users to fight both online surveillance and targeted ads.
It’s simple: Make a point to never, never buy anything in an ad that follows you. Just never do it. Not even once. Make it a complete boycott.
If you really need whatever is in the targeted ad, buy a version of it from a different maker. The advertised version is, after all, just the advertised version.
If users would take that simple step, and stick to their guns, surveillance in the service of ad targeting would become pointless.
If enough people treated targeted ads as if they simply didn’t exist, they wouldn’t.
I know this is an extreme idea, but, really, isn’t ad stalking also?
14
Duck Duck Go has a great IOS app that gets rid of the annoying alley ads on newspapers. It blocks tracking, gives the web site a grade on how stalky it is, and shows you what tracking services are following you. You can also directly clear your browsing history on the app. Why anyone uses Google is beyond me.
19
“The content isn’t free, so what would you rather see?” said Sarah Hofstetter, the chairwoman for the ad agency 360i. “Ads that are at least trying to be of interest to you, or ads that are spray and pray?”
Neither. Sarah, get a life, and a real job.
55
I understand that much of the web is "free" and thus I'll see advertising. Personally, I'd prefer to see ads that are relevant to me instead of random junk. I find the random ones to be ridiculous; I can't count how many times I've seen pitches for HARP mortgage reductions that I will never need.
3
But tracker ads are useful!
The best was on the NYTimes itself! I had a prepaid vacation be cancelled for lack of signup (5 months before going, it cost me nothing).
The next day ads for vacations started showing up in many places. The NYT had one for 25% off! No single supplement! ... a cruise to South Georgia Island (think Antarctica) from a luxury company. Still *well* into 5
figures. I went ... one of the best vacations of my life. It was perfectly designed for people like me. As I said once before in a comment, a half million penguins can't be wrong.
This is not at all unusual ... just unusually expensive.
1
One afternoon last year I texted my wife and mentioned that I had to print out (!) some photos to send to my mother (one of the last few dozen Americans not on line).
A couple hours later I was listening to Pandora while exercising and, lo and behold, I heard an ad for a photo printing and mailing service!
Super creepy or just an unholy coincidence?
14
As long as gullible people can be bamboozled into responding to these ads, they will persist. Just like Trump does, for the same reason.
16
It's not that hard to protect your PC.
Download ghostery, adblock plus and noscript. All are free.
Search using duckduckgo.
Most browsers have a privacy mode that deletes cookies and other tracking devices when you close the browser. At a minimum you can do it manually now and then.
4
“Ads that are at least trying to be of interest to you, or ads that are spray and pray?”
Spray and pray, thank you -- then I might actually pay attention. I don't mind ads, grew up with them in newspapers and magazines. But intrusive is annoying, and stalking and prying are beyond the pale. Geographical or site-topical relevance is fine, but that's it. And I clear cookies every time I shut down.
12
What does this mean re: DuckDuckGo on the desktop?
"They can be impractical to use as everyday browsers because the built-in blockers can break important parts of websites."
I use DuckDuckGo on iOS and my Windows box with no problems. And if you really want those google search results just prefix your DDG query with !g .
8
Good salespeople understand the fine line between attentive and creepy, and they're careful not to cross it. Doing so requires social skills, sophistication, and discretion.
Web advertisers, it would appear, lack all three.
(When I'm searching for a product and don't want to be stalked by ads for it, I switch my browser to incognito mode, or better yet, use Tor.)
11
I have generally found these ads to be creepy. However, about six weeks ago I was shopping for two outdoor lights (specific styles required by my condo association). At the time, they were on sale for $180 each. Unfortunately, I procrastinated a couple days and the price reverted to well over $200. Lo and behold! Last week an Amazon ad popped up when I was playing Words With Friends showing the lights for $166; I followed the link and bought them on the spot! The ads are still creepy, but I was happy to see that one.
4
Ad Block Pro is an excellent blocker, and it's free - I use it in Chrome. And don't have that creepy sensation of being followed everywhere by ads for everything I've looked at on Amazon and just about anywhere else.
5
I have started making the effort to route my online shopping transactions as close to the original source as possible. I think this is also helping to reduce unwanted data collection
If I find something I need on Amazon, I then search for the manufacturer's website and often find the price is close enough to order from their site.
Even better, is place your online order (with free delivery for local in-store pickup) at a site like Home Despot or even (gag) Walwart (whose stores now have a special pickup counter for prepaid online sales - no waiting in line at the register or horrible return counter :-)
1
Advertiser pay by the click. If we all click and close, advertisers will soon find their ads too expensive for the closed sales that result. Of course, this solution will work only until another ad techno fix is created.
3
You should know that there was an ad for vintage watches on the page with this article...
2
You mean YOU saw an ad for vintage watches. Others might see something tailored to their previous online searches and clicks.
4
I don't mind these. I usually ignore them but sometimes, yes, they have been helpful in finding something I've been looking for. And i agree with Hofstetter: If I'm getting it for free, I know that something has to pay for it.
1
The ones that really annoy me are the prescription drug ads. WebMD, I'm looking at you. Go to their site to look up info on a condition and you will be stalked by pharmaceutical ads for months. It's so infuriating that it's worth avoiding the site entirely.
17
The Firefox add-on called "NoScript" is the absolute safest way to browse the web, period. Couple it with UblockOrigin and you're good to go.
What about just ignoring those commercials. The same goes for TV: I use the mute button. Except for some medical ones with truly disgusting videos, when one needs to turn the eyes away from the screen and, e.g., read the NYT for a moment, ignoring the ads. They slow down our computers and mobiles, but not below the speeds which were expected just a few years ago.
Much worse is the recent NYT practice on putting most of its articles online. This becomes a real time waster, more then the ads because I actually want to read them and have to suffer a considerable delay each time nail,they fully load, both the ads and contents. I live outside NYT paper delivery area and the iPad app is my only access to this and other newspapers. NYT seems to be the only one which does this to its web subscribers.
7
I enjoyed reading this article because as a frequent online shopper, this is something I experience all the time. It is extremely annoying, and slightly creepy when I buy an item and next thing I know fifty more of that similar item is popping up on the next website I navigate to. This article was very educating as to why this is happening and what exactly it is. I think these "stalker ads" should be banned in some way. Just like the article said, I agree with the fact that there shouldn't be a tracker on the internet because it is an invasion of privacy. The end of this article must have been very useful towards online shoppers because it gave many ways to fix this annoying bug.
2
Funny how I am reading this article about stalking ads as I see ads in the article that are stalking me. NYTimes could practice what they preach.
45
In my line of work, I sometimes have to look up electrical and mechanical equipment online. I get the information I need and get back to work. On my lunch I like to see if I can work the crossword puzzle. As soon as the front page of the Times loads, I see an ad for the equipment I was just looking at. I'm not even interested in buying it. I find this infuriating and annoying. I am a subscriber, can't I get ad free content?
110
@Anthony White
THis will shock you but newspapers you subscribe to have always carried ads. At least since I delivered them in 1961.
4
Easy---just ignore them all! I don't believe I have ever clicked on any ad as I read through whatever online interests me. I have no idea which advertisers target me, and it really doesn't matter. I never notice the ads.
Occasionally, if I browse through the JCPenney website, I may notice the clothing advertised on a page, several days later, merely because the items are familiar. Do I buy them? Of course not! Why should I, when I already have what I need?
So, people, what is there to be concerned about, except your own lack of self-control? Advertisers want your money. The only way to "have" money is by "not spending" your money.
No advertiser can sway me. I'm too independent to fall for the hype. Aren't you? And I find it very tedious to delete cookies on a regular basis, so I just let 'em ride........
2
@ultimateliberal. They are not not always easy to ignore, though that is what I do. I have hardly ever clicked on an add. But many adds flash or move (or, horrors, make noise) which is distracting, and then they change, creating a flash every time, which is also tiring. I'm saving this article for the day I have an IT person on hand who can help me.
3
What about using a VPN?
Could the author here comment on if a VPN would prevent all of the tracking?
Thank you
1
No, it does not. It just routes your traffic from a different location. The methods the author describes are your best bet.
2
Recently some of these ads seemed to reference material from my desktop that had never been online or google searched. It was alarming, and I suspect Yahoo's recent adoption of the blatant stalker program Oath.
Meanwhile.....a few weeks ago I happened to watch a PBS nature show that featured breathtaking footage of Nepalese herders driving yaks through a narrow, rocky gorge:
https://www.pbs.org/video/nepal-herders-bring-yaks-down-steep-mountain-p...
I sent the clip to friends, read articles about yak herding, even checked out an international yak herding organization website, after which I expected to see ads popping up for yaks. No yak ads yet.
It made me think maybe you can mess with these interlopers by now and then google searching the most unmarketable terms you can think of. Scientific terms, nonsense terms, interests contradictory to your identity. Or how about "I hate ads"? Most importantly, never click on the ads. Make them as unprofitable as possible.
9
@gw
Yes. Just use a foreign language like Welsh or Gaelic.
3
I've found more than a few things that I actually wanted thanks to some targeted advertisements. They were rather helpful in that regards.
2
I use a combination of browser extensions: Ghostery (tracker blocker) and Cookie Auto Delete, both of which are available for Firefox, Chrome, and Chromium-based browsers. Cookie Auto Delete, as the name suggests, automatically deletes cookies after you leave a Web site. There is a "whitelist" feature that allows cookies from sites you specify to remain. I whitelist a very few sites, including this one, where the benefits of cookies outweigh the risk of tracking.
As a result, I don't get any targeted ads. I sometimes have problems with paywalls, usually from newspapers from which I occasionally read articles linked from elsewhere. Most of those paywalls are supposed to allow reading individual articles linked from social media or a limited number of articles per month (with cookies keeping track of articles read). But sometimes the paywalls have an allegic reaction to the tracker blocking, insisting that I've exceeded my monthly quota even though I've never visited the site before. Sometimes they block access because "we notice you're using an ad blocker," and insist that I not only disable Ghostery but reset my browser to allow third-party cookies and pop-ups. That seems to be their retaliatory move against the proliferation of ad blocking. I don't know if that persuades anyone to subscribe.
The other interesting thing is the default, non-targeted ads. By far the most common are for women's fashion and accessories. Completely wasted on me, but that's not my problem.
6
Which is worse: looking at ads for products that might interest you, or products about which you could not care less?
3
@Rocky L. R.
It's time to put on your thinking cap. If you had a serious medical condition, would you want to be bombarded with ads about it 24/7?
6
@Rocky L. R. I actually prefer to know what's being sold to everybody, not seeing the items and brands I already know about over and over again.
2
It amuses me that *after* I make my online purchase for, say, a kitchen appliance, I am pursued for weeks by ads for said appliance. How many blenders do they think I’m going to buy?
But the concerns raised here are real and only going to get worse. When they no longer target me for blenders after I buy a blender, that will give me pause.
Also, I’m now expecting blenders to show up in my adstream for the next several weeks.
21
I've got to support others' comments on NYT's use of tracking ads. I understand they need to pay their excellent journalists, but give those of us who actually subscribe a break from it. As I've responded multiple times to their user surveys, I visit nytimes.com only from private browser windows that block ads because of their targeted advertising. Since those browsers also delete cookies, my login isn't saved, but neither is my article count, so most of the time I wind up not even logging in. Subscribers have always received ads, also in print, but do us the favor of making ours unobtrusive and not creepy.
56
I find it hard to believe that people actually buy stuff from pop-up ads on their computers. Who are these people?
60
@thomas
Exactly; it strikes me as on par with sending money to that Nigerian prince. Although apparently people fall for that too, so there you go...
5
What's really bad, and inefficient from the standpoint of the whole ad system, is that there is no feedback mechanism from the seller of the product back into the ad system. I keep getting hammered with ads for products even after I buy them from the seller (in this case Amazon) long ago!
9
This article was accompanied by a targeted Wayfair ad. The interesting thing to me is how badly targeted they are. If I've just made an major purchase, what are the chances that I will purchase it again within 24 hours?
The only eerie thing that has happened and made want to buy some aluminum foil to wrap around my head was an ad that popped up on Facebook for a pair of high top sneakers with an image of Frida Kahlo on the cloth. The night before we had eaten at a local Mexican restaurant, and I had commented on a painting of Frida hung behind the bar. What the hey?
But for the most part, while I HATE phone calls, if I am using services for free, I except somebody has to pay for them, so the ads don't bother me. However, I have a subscription to the New York Times. Yours are not too intrusive, and if I don't want it I won't buy it, and in a way I find it reassuring that outside the Frida shoes (which I did not buy) I don't think algorithms know me nearly as well as they think they do.
5
Ads that inform me about discounts on things I'm interested in purchasing, what's the problem? If I'm not interested in an ad, I just ignore it like any other ad, but I PREFER ads that are relevant to my interests.
5
What I think is goofiest is, if I already bought those shoes, why show me those shoes again? Different shoes that I might like would make more sense.
Also, maybe I'd like to see totally different ideas than the one I just searched for. Maybe I'd LIKE to see the opposite viewpoint. Maybe we'd all be better for that.
6
I searched for the NY Yankees home schedule, not because I'm a fan (I root for the pitiful Mets), but to anticipate traffic on the Major Deegan. When a game starts and ends is strongly correlated to traffic congestion, but as a result of my searches, I get ads for Yankee tickets and souvenirs.
Note to advertising bots: just because someone searches for something doesn't meant they want it. Sometimes, it could mean they want to avoid that product.
23
Thanks, Brian. Being stalked by online ads is akin to the death by a thousand cuts. Will try your solutions and pray for surcease from vomitrocious ads and robot-phone calls.
4
"The integrity of the web." Hilarious.
I am currently being stalked by a zombie army of low water use toilets.
37
@runaway This is a vivid mental picture!
3
1. Settings, settings, settings - on ALL digital devices, be it computer, mobile or streaming. Familiarize every family member with the settings of each device and don't let them change privacy and security settings. Regularly go into settings of each device to determine that settings have not been set to the factory default (i.e. no security and no privacy) in the event of a power interruption or reboot. Some manufacturers design their devices to do just that, so don't be lazy.
2. Never use Google. DuckDuckGo remains the most private and secure, short of Tor.
3. Always use an ad block, private window setting and all defcon 1 privacy-security settings that still allow for a desired level of browsing.
4. Kick self for not being aware enough to do all of the above over the last decade+.
37
Worse than the ads stalking you is the price for the item you originally shopped for keeps changing on each future attempt to get you to buy it! And from the same seller in fact!
9
These ads are not as annoying as the robocalls but they come close. What puts the cherry on the sundae however is that the NY Times, which I subscribe to, has a great many ads. This page alone has 25 ads that AdBlock has kept me from seeing. That's 25 ads that slow down my computer, lead the page to load even more slowly than it should, and, in my opinion as a subscriber, 25 ads I shouldn't have to block.
If I want to read an article I do not need to be confronted with multiple meaningless ads. If I go online to find serious medical information I do not want to be directed to garbage sites that are merely selling junk meds or telling me how to cure it. If I'm going to Google to find a site on communism I don't need to be tracked. These ads are distracting eye candy that add nothing to our online experience.
130
@hen3ry
Safari lets me turn on "reader view" automagically for selected web sites and that hides all ads.
The downside is that it hides some pictures, graphs, and the ability to see if there are comments, ...
1
@Steve J Thanks for letting me know.
It's stupid. I search for a hotel room and book one. Then other hotels try to sell me rooms I don't need. I bought a pair of Ugg slippers on sale from Neiman Marcus. For months afterwards, Neiman Marcus kept trying to sell me this item I didn't need because I'd already bought it. Advertisers are wasting their money on targeted ads like these. Maybe they will figure it out.
89
Bothered by pop-ups, tracking , etc.? Install browsers such as Opera, Firefox, Duck Duck G, plus Ghostery and you will not get pop-ups, adv. or be easily tracked. Properly set up, those software gems will make your computer more resistant to invasion and better protect your personal whims and data.
5
@Dr. Mandrill Balanitis
As a Mac user since the 1990s, I've nary seen one ad or pop up with Safari's Private Window + variant easy peasy preference settings used in conjunction with DuckDuckGo search engine, AdBlockPlus, Ghostery, Blur, and common sense movement around the internet.
2
the geniuses of Internet advertiser figure out that you have now bought the mattress you were looking for and stop targeting you with ads for a product you’ve already purchased. As an advertiser I wouldn’t want to pay for an ad targeting a no longer potential customer and to the consumer who has already purchased, it’s just an annoyance.
1
Thanks for this useful article. I am implementing your suggestions right now.
3
@plumskiterI installed the software recommended and it is working like a charm. I ache the thanks!
@Mary...echo not ache (my thanks)!!
1
@plumskiter
and, my computer is working much faster now too!
Plain old Firefox on Android supports extensions, allowing you to install uBlock Origin and Ghostery.
1
@Yair
If you're using Android, Google gets all of your information, regardless of the browser you're using. Emails, text messages, phone calls, contacts, your location 24/7, and maybe even full audio and video of your life. Using ad blocker and cookie blockers inside of Android is relatively useless.
3
Frank: "If you're using Android, Google gets all of your information, regardless of the browser you're using."
Cite a reliable source supporting that claim.
Frank: "Emails, text messages, phone calls, contacts, your location 24/7, and maybe even full audio and video of your life."
You don't seem to know much about Android. You can disable access to all of that. There are explicit settings that allow and deny access for each Android app. And GPS location tracking can be separately disabled. There are also camera blocker apps.
Control your app permissions on Android 6.0 and up
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/6270602
1
Times: "Periodically, clear your cookies."
With Firefox, you can do better than that by setting it to "Always use private browsing mode". That will configure Firefox to remove cookies and browsing history whenever you quit Firefox:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-use-firefox-withou...
There is still a problem with cookies persisting when you close a tab or window. To work around that, install a Firefox extension to clear cookies when a tab or window is closed. Search for "Cookie AutoDelete" for one such extension.
6
I don’t buy anything from ads that “pop up” on my computer. I just refuse. I actually have been actively shopping locally on purpose since these privacy issues started. I will shut off as many ads as I can but realize if we don’t support our local stores, soon we will have no choice.
44
Confuse them. Become hard to categorize. If you are looking for a simple car, also look for MB S class 550.
22
Another annoying thing I find are sites, (Wunderground, for example) loading so slowly or not at all because it is loading such a huge amount of ads.
39
"A 2012 survey by Pew Research Center found that 68 percent of internet users did not like targeted advertising because they do not like having their online behavior tracked and analyzed."
They needed a study to show this? I'm only surprised it wasn't 100% that did not like any advertising at all.
45
...or you could just not use Google, Apple, Amazon, or Facebook. Works well for me. My privacy and personal data are worth more to me than the tiny bit of convenience these services offer.
7
"...or you could just not use Google, Apple, Amazon, or Facebook. Works well for me."
That's useless advice for most people. The fact that you conflated Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook shows that you really don't know what you are talking about.
"My privacy and personal data are worth more to me than the tiny bit of convenience these services offer."
Google and other web search services are indispensable for anyone with the least bit of intellectual curiosity. And Amazon is a superb resource when researching products and prices.
16
@DSH
I own and run a multi-million dollar company and I'm also a geneticist. I have a successful career, a fulfilling life, and I miss nothing from not working with those companies. Perhaps if you consider them "indispensable", you might want to look at your own life to see what happened to make you so dependent on companies that are actively abusing you. Best of luck!
Frank: "... companies that are actively abusing you."
Don't make assumptions about people you don't know. I use every method suggested in the article, and I know how to use a router log, which is a method that is probably too advanced for the average user.
1
You might also investigate Privacy Badger, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
If you're really annoyed, make a conscious decision not to buy items advertised on services like FB.
20