[Gust Hubb]

Hey all, I hate being tracked (particularly by ad-corporations and big corporate giants like Google). It makes me twitchy to have people gathering information on me and using it to try adapting my browsing experience to their needs. So, I am always looking for ways to prevent giving away information about myself.

Now I know there are extreme ways to hide on the internet (I have heard about things similar to white noise makers, etc), but I mainly created this topic to ask about simple, practical ways to make it more difficult to be tracked. I know that I is arduous to be completely anonymous, but I just want to make it more difficult for those prying corporate eyes.

I was just looking into Tor, and was curious if anyone had any experience with it (or knew if it was a scam that protected you while getting its own tracking talons into your machine; or if it made your machine vulnerable).

Anyway, thank you all in advance.

[Aptorian]

Gust Hubb, on 21 November 2015 - 05:05 PM, said:

Hey all, I hate being tracked (particularly by ad-corporations and big corporate giants like Google). It makes me twitchy to have people gathering information on me and using it to try adapting my browsing experience to their needs. So, I am always looking for ways to prevent giving away information about myself.

Seeing as you're never not going to be tracked, why not help advertisers actually tailor adds to your needs?

Adds and user information are what makes the internet run, when you're not interested in paying a subscription. Why actually hamper it?

If less people tried to avoid tracking and avoid addblockers, a lot of sites would actually be bigger and healthier than they are today.

But hey, I am also the guy who thinks complete surveillance is a great idea (in nice countries).

[LinearPhilosopher]

Gust Hubb, on 21 November 2015 - 05:05 PM, said:

Hey all, I hate being tracked (particularly by ad-corporations and big corporate giants like Google). It makes me twitchy to have people gathering information on me and using it to try adapting my browsing experience to their needs. So, I am always looking for ways to prevent giving away information about myself.

Now I know there are extreme ways to hide on the internet (I have heard about things similar to white noise makers, etc), but I mainly created this topic to ask about simple, practical ways to make it more difficult to be tracked. I know that I is arduous to be completely anonymous, but I just want to make it more difficult for those prying corporate eyes.

I was just looking into Tor, and was curious if anyone had any experience with it (or knew if it was a scam that protected you while getting its own tracking talons into your machine; or if it made your machine vulnerable).

Anyway, thank you all in advance.

tor is very slow cause it re routs you through multiple ports. Tor is the browser you use to access the dark side of the internet, that is webpages that aren't indexed to any search engine. I'd stay away from TOR unless you know what you're doing. Click the wrong link and you may unwittingly access child porn

[Gust Hubb]

Perfect,
thanks both of you. I will avoid Tor.

Yeah, Apt, there's a good video about adblocking on You tube that I will try to link when I get home. I am not asking to ad-block. I just don't like being stalked. I still let the ads run, etc etc.

I just find the whole advertising business malignant, a blight on our society. I'm not sure how, but there has to be a better way.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I disagree with LinearPhilosopher regarding Tor — you can use it safely. It's just like the normal internet, in that you shouldn't click on unknown links! There's not really any more of a risk of running into illegal content using Tor than there is using the regular internet. However, I think it's a bit overkill for most use cases (though more people on Tor increases security for all Tor users).

I'd suggest using HTTPS Everywhere. It forces sites that support it to use encryption when sending/receiving info to/from you.

I also use uBlock Origin (ctrl+f "installation") for adblocking. It's pretty easy to set up (there are instructions on the Github) and it shouldn't require much (if any) management after the fact.

Additionally, I use uMatrix which is essentially a script blocker. It prevents unknown 3rd party scripts from loading when visiting a site. However, I don't recommend uMatrix for non-technical users because blocking these scripts causes problems with many modern sites, so it requires a good amount of hands-on attention to unblock just the things you need to get the site working while leaving the unneeded crud blocked.

Other recommended tools: Ghostery, Disconnect

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 21 November 2015 - 08:38 PM

[EmperorMagus]

Gust Hubb, on 21 November 2015 - 05:05 PM, said:

Hey all, I hate being tracked (particularly by ad-corporations and big corporate giants like Google). It makes me twitchy to have people gathering information on me and using it to try adapting my browsing experience to their needs. So, I am always looking for ways to prevent giving away information about myself.

Now I know there are extreme ways to hide on the internet (I have heard about things similar to white noise makers, etc), but I mainly created this topic to ask about simple, practical ways to make it more difficult to be tracked. I know that I is arduous to be completely anonymous, but I just want to make it more difficult for those prying corporate eyes.

I was just looking into Tor, and was curious if anyone had any experience with it (or knew if it was a scam that protected you while getting its own tracking talons into your machine; or if it made your machine vulnerable).

Anyway, thank you all in advance.

Tor is fine unless you want to have quick internet, in which case stay away. All my traffic was through Tor when I lived in Iran.
Other than that, I use DuckDuckGo instead of Google because they don't save any information from you. VPNs are cheap and useful if you want to hide your IP but not all that useful if the corporate giant (Amazon, Google) is tracking you through your account; or if a court of law tells your VPN company to give up your IP.
You can also disable targeted advertising in your account settings but in my experience it isn't all that useful.

[Gredfallan Ale]

Apt, on 21 November 2015 - 05:17 PM, said:

Gust Hubb, on 21 November 2015 - 05:05 PM, said:

Hey all, I hate being tracked (particularly by ad-corporations and big corporate giants like Google). It makes me twitchy to have people gathering information on me and using it to try adapting my browsing experience to their needs. So, I am always looking for ways to prevent giving away information about myself.

Seeing as you're never not going to be tracked, why not help advertisers actually tailor adds to your needs?

Adds and user information are what makes the internet run, when you're not interested in paying a subscription. Why actually hamper it?

If less people tried to avoid tracking and avoid addblockers, a lot of sites would actually be bigger and healthier than they are today.

But hey, I am also the guy who thinks complete surveillance is a great idea (in nice countries).

Interesting post. I agree with most of what you say, user information and advertisement is indeed what pays for our web experience. However, "personalisation" goes a lot further than just displaying adds matching your current interests, it tries to define your future. Advertising it as "personalisation" is just newspeak, a term used to frame it in a positive way.

Let's face it, I can have the illusion of freedom all I want, in reality my interests and activities are shaped by what's available. Sure, once in a while someone may invent some major activity or interest truly out-of-the-blue, but I think it's safe to assume that is very rare. Why do I like archery? I certainly did not invent the activity, nor would I have picked it up if I hadn't come across it one day. Sure, it's probably not for everyone (why?), but there's probably an abstract subgroup out there that might potentially like archery if the circumstances were to be right (availability, contact at the right moment, &c.).

The current holy grail of marketing is not identifying a user's currents needs to an advertisement campaign, as the user has a high probability of looking for that current interest anyway. No, it's making sure that out of all of the potential interests a user might develop, they develop an interest in your product by tailoring ("personalising") their web experience. A user might have developed any of several potential hobbies, the goal of personalisation is making sure that the potential hobby actualised is the one that aligns with the commercial interests of the commercial party paying for your web experience.

While still relatively new, those mechanisms are already in place. Social networks, such as Facebook, are identifying potential buyers of products to alter the user experience of those users by making salient content, such as peer posts, that include that product or trend. For example, if you're a Facebook user that is identified to have a potential to develop an interest in fitness and are into gadgets, Facebook will start to show more fitness activity posts of connected users ("friends") at the top of the content page ("newsfeed"), if there's currently a fitness gadget company paying for such a campaign. While you might have developed one of several pastime activities, Facebook/the advertiser tries to steer you into the direction of fitness by making that activity salient and competing activities less salient.

This is also one of the reasons the European Union is keeping a close watch on Google's "personalised" search results, as with the monopoly Google has and the cage personalisation provides, Google has a huge control over what a user comes into contact with. This isn't restricted to direct commercial interests. If I search for "evolution" without a VPN [normal connection], there are no creationist/anti-evolution hits on the first page. If I open a VPN-tunnel to the USA, about half of the hits on the first page are to "critical websites".

Now, as at all times there are multiple competing campaigns active, personalisation will not go as far as leaving you only one choice. However, it will be restricted to a certain type of interests, namely those that are in someone's (commercial) interests. If you're in a subgroup that has the potential to develop a new outdoor hobby, your personalisation will include activities that lure you into spending money, not (relatively) free activities, because who would pay for the latter personalisation? It gets even scarier if you add propaganda and lobbying into the equation. For now, the differential evolution search results are probably due to the geographical distribution of opinions (in itself a bit scary, as it will skew opinions to the dominant ones), but imagine well-financed organisations/governments fully controlling the information you come across. (Well, if you believe those with tinfoil hats...)

This post has been edited by Gredfallan Ale: 21 November 2015 - 10:08 PM

[Gust Hubb]

[Andorion]

Do any of you surf the Internet while logged into Google or Facebook? I don't.

Tailored ads are overrated. This past week I have been seeing ads for infant stem cell preservation and baby feeding bottles. Me, an unmarried male with no interest in having kids. On the other hand I search Amazon and Google for books all the time. I have yet to see a single book ad.

[EmperorMagus]

Andorion, on 22 November 2015 - 01:40 AM, said:

Do any of you surf the Internet while logged into Google or Facebook? I don't.

Tailored ads are overrated. This past week I have been seeing ads for infant stem cell preservation and baby feeding bottles. Me, an unmarried male with no interest in having kids. On the other hand I search Amazon and Google for books all the time. I have yet to see a single book ad.

I am constantly logged into both when I'm online.
I also avoid anything that may lead to me glancing at an ad like the plague. Advertisements are a plague on our civilization, and the most annoying thing I have to deal with. The only good ads I have ever seen were Victoria's Secret ads.
I also make a point to never, ever buy anything that I see advertised in the middle of a video (whether it be on youtube or TV) because those ads are worse than the rest.
Never had to endure the bane of tailored ads because AdBlock baby. I understand why people would think using adblock is unethical but I'm so fed up with all these horrible intrusive advertisements everywhere that I simply do not care.
Throw me into hell for all I care.

[Gredfallan Ale]

Andorion, on 22 November 2015 - 01:40 AM, said:

Do any of you surf the Internet while logged into Google or Facebook? I don't.

Tailored ads are overrated. This past week I have been seeing ads for infant stem cell preservation and baby feeding bottles. Me, an unmarried male with no interest in having kids. On the other hand I search Amazon and Google for books all the time. I have yet to see a single book ad.

It doesn't really matter whether you log-out or not, unless you clear your cookies and are very careful.

For instance, Facebook always sets a cookie with an identification code that remains after you log-out. If that cookie remain, then every page you visit that has some Facebook integration, such as a simple "like" or "share" button (what site doesn't?), will be logged to your user account. Now, if you clear you cookies after logging out, then the first time you visit such a website with integration a new cookie is set with a temporary id number. Next it uses varies algorithms to match that temporary ID to a facebook account, the simplest being: if the user later logs-in, probability is high that temp id can be matched to that facebook account. If you don't log-in before clearing that temporary cookie, Facebook can match it using your known IP address (if you have a (semi-)static IP).

[Andorion]

Gredfallan Ale, on 22 November 2015 - 02:10 AM, said:

Andorion, on 22 November 2015 - 01:40 AM, said:

Do any of you surf the Internet while logged into Google or Facebook? I don't.

Tailored ads are overrated. This past week I have been seeing ads for infant stem cell preservation and baby feeding bottles. Me, an unmarried male with no interest in having kids. On the other hand I search Amazon and Google for books all the time. I have yet to see a single book ad.

It doesn't really matter whether you log-out or not, unless you clear your cookies and are very careful.

For instance, Facebook always sets a cookie with an identification code that remains after you log-out. If that cookie remain, then every page you visit that has some Facebook integration, such as a simple "like" or "share" button (what site doesn't?), will be logged to your user account. Now, if you clear you cookies after logging out, then the first time you visit such a website with integration a new cookie is set with a temporary id number. Next it uses varies algorithms to match that temporary ID to a facebook account, the simplest being: if the user later logs-in, probability is high that temp id can be matched to that facebook account. If you don't log-in before clearing that temporary cookie, Facebook can match it using your known IP address (if you have a (semi-)static IP).

I clear my cookies very frequently and I log into Facebook very rarely - once a month, maybe twice. So I am not really worried about FB

On the other hand all my book searches and purchases on Amazon get me no book ads. Ever. Odd. When I was googling laptops and headphones there were plenty of ads though so wide of the mark it was hilarious.

[Arthur Dayne]

I find the easiest way to stop all the crazy Facebook spam is to stop following George Takei. His team shotgun spams random clickbait 24/7. I have to wade through it all just to see when my cousin hits the gym or my Aunt has a sandwich for lunch. Honestly, the temp files and cookies are the bane of any internet experience. Every website leaves them and so many won't function unless they're active that you implicitly agree to have them monitor your every move just so you can watch porn anymore. Damned Interwebz.

This post has been edited by Arthur Dayne: 07 January 2016 - 07:05 PM

[Vengeance]

LinearPhilosopher, on 21 November 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

Gust Hubb, on 21 November 2015 - 05:05 PM, said:

Hey all, I hate being tracked (particularly by ad-corporations and big corporate giants like Google). It makes me twitchy to have people gathering information on me and using it to try adapting my browsing experience to their needs. So, I am always looking for ways to prevent giving away information about myself.

Now I know there are extreme ways to hide on the internet (I have heard about things similar to white noise makers, etc), but I mainly created this topic to ask about simple, practical ways to make it more difficult to be tracked. I know that I is arduous to be completely anonymous, but I just want to make it more difficult for those prying corporate eyes.

I was just looking into Tor, and was curious if anyone had any experience with it (or knew if it was a scam that protected you while getting its own tracking talons into your machine; or if it made your machine vulnerable).

Anyway, thank you all in advance.

tor is very slow cause it re routs you through multiple ports. Tor is the browser you use to access the dark side of the internet, that is webpages that aren't indexed to any search engine. I'd stay away from TOR unless you know what you're doing. Click the wrong link and you may unwittingly access child porn

Tor is a privacy browser don't believe the child porn hype. Yes it can be slower then a normal browser because it routes you through multiple hubs. But depending on where you are and how many hubs are in your area not that much slower. Using Tor doesn't automatically mean that you are going to be surfing in the dark side of the net. Tens of thousands of people use tor to regularly surf the net. In order to access the so called dark net (this is primarily what the media refer to as unindexed weppages) you actually have to know where your going. Tor is hated by governments around the world because it allows dissidents and reporters to send messages and to post anomalously. In lots of cases Tor is the only way that people in repressed countries can safely and freely access the internet. Because there are webpages that are not indexed some are used for nefarious ends. But hey so is Backpage and that is an indexed website. The take down of silk road and of various child porn networks has lead people to believe that Tor is this place were the scum go. Scum are everywhere the smart ones just use Tor to hide better just like everyone else.

[paradanmellow]

Arthur Dayne, on 07 January 2016 - 07:05 PM, said:

I find the easiest way to stop all the crazy Facebook spam is to stop following George Takei. His team shotgun spams random clickbait 24/7.

Hahaha! I feel your pain. But when the choice is cake or death, I would rather stay off both of them (even if that's not possible)

[Kanese S's]

The easiest way is to just not use the internet.

[Vengeance]

Personally for my browsing I use adblock and noscript in order to block malicious adds and lots of various cookie tracking. I am also not on Facebook but I do belong to Google + so they will track me across multiple devices if I enable them. I highly recommend that people use an antiscript and some kind of ad blocking addons to their webbrowser of their choice.

[Tsundoku]

Only 34 years late, Big Brother drops the pretence in China:

https://www.theatlan...illance/552203/

"One IHS Markit estimate puts the number of cameras in China at 176 million today, with a plan to have 450 million installed by 2020. One hundred percent of Beijing is now blanketed by surveillance cameras, according to the Beijing Public Safety Bureau.

The stated goal of this system is to capture and deter criminals. However, it also poses obvious and massive risks to privacy and the modicum of freedom Chinese citizens have managed to gain since the Maoist era. The penalties for small crimes seem unreasonable: Authorities in Fuzhou are publishing the names of jaywalkers in local media and even sending them to their employers. More ominous, though, are the likely punishments that will be inflicted on people who associate with dissidents or critics, who circulate a petition or hold up a protest sign, or who simply wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thus, the installation of an all-seeing-eye for the government alarms civil liberties and privacy advocates worldwide. "

----------------

Does anyone else remember Bottle, the Chinese government mouthpiece who was a member here waaaaaay back in the day? He'll be celebrating.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 04 February 2018 - 10:34 AM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I wonder how they estimate 100% coverage. Does that mean even inside of homes? Inside of every single nook and cranny?

[Coco with marshmallows]

Tsundoku, on 04 February 2018 - 10:30 AM, said:

Does anyone else remember Bottle, the Chinese government mouthpiece who was a member here waaaaaay back in the day? He'll be celebrating.

Yeah, he was an absolute fruitcake. Couldn't accept anything bad being said about China, ever. Was always the fault of the Japanese.