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Opt-out of unwanted online advertising

Advert One of the most annoying things about the internet is the ever-increasing number of intrusive, screen-filling advertisements and pop-up windows one must battle every time one goes online. While efforts have been made by both software developers for both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox to prevent these ads from intruding too much one your browsing experience, many of these efforts prove futile against the increasingly-clever tactics used by online advertisers.

One of the chief reasons for the increasing proliferation of ads that are seemingly well-targeted towards individual internet users is the use of online “behavioural analysis” techniques. Essentially, the past browsing habits of internet users – including the types of websites they have visited, which books you may have clicked links to online bookshops and the type of music you have downloaded – are used to closely target adverts at the individual.

Such targeting is made possible as a result of ‘Cookies’, a small digital record planted on your computer “which can record your site preferences and profile information for advertisers”. There are steps you can take to disable “cookies” and exempt yourself from this kind of targeted advertising.

The first is to visit the website of the Network Advertising Initiative, whose website includes a one-page form in which you can “opt out” of having “cookies” from many of the online advertising industry’s leading names implanted on your computer. A quick glance down the list showed that, prior to “opting out”, I had a no less than 21 “cookies” on my computer – none of which I was previously aware of.

Click here to “opt-out”.

By Daniel Hamilton

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Online privacy
  • shedzy

    You only tell part of the story
    If people delete their cookies, then most sites will require them to re-enter information which they will usually have stored on cookies; eg login information for banks, or the things you usually place in your shopping basket for your supermarket shop.
    Further to that, if you delete your cookies, then you will actually get MORE annoying ads, as cookies ensure that advertisers know something about your habits, and that they are therefore able to display ads which are more likely to be relevant to you – if you delete your cookies, you will probably only see ads for penis enlargement, laser eye surgery or crap credit cards.
    Finally, cookies actually ensure that publishers make money for the content they produce – after all, you don’t pay for it directly yourself, using money – you pay for indirectly, by allowing the information to be passed around. Make no mistakes, no advertiser is interetsed in knowing WHO you are; they just want to make sure that they are best able to minimise their wasted ad dollars by only targeting people who might be interested in their products.
    Interesting piece, but it might be useful to tell the entire story in future…………….

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    Yes, there are pros and cons to deleting cookies. It is possible to obtain a cookie manager if you use Firefox at this might be advantageous for people who want to keep an eye on cookies that they have on their browser.
    All the best, John

  • Antigone

    There certainly is a heck of a lot more to the story.
    For one thing, its almost universal that “opting out” does not stop the data collection, it just stops the marketers from blatantly reminding you that they are collecting data on you.
    In other words, they still build up a profile and track your every move, they just don’t show you advertisements based on that data. But that doesn’t stop them from selling your profile information to 3rd parties – including governments.
    If you care about your privacy, you are far better off blocking most cookies using a cookie manager like “CS Lite” for firefox and also blocking advertisements with a plugin like “Adblock Plus” (also for firefox). Other useful firefox plugins are “BetterPrivacy” – handles so-called “Super Cookies” and “RequestPolicy” – stops web pages from secretly reporting back to other web servers (like tracking networks) and the mother of all blockers “NoScript” which will block Javascript and substantially speed up your web browsing, but also requires a lot of manual work since it breaks a fair amount of web sites, especially lazy/sloppy websites.

  • NeverSurrender

    Block everything that is not needed and only allow them on a temporary basis if they are necessary.
    I have all cookies blocked by default and I only allow them when necessary and delete them immediately afterwards. You do not need cookies at all unless you have to sign in securely or make a purchase. You can safely delete them once you have finished what you were doing. Don’t forget to block those nasty Flash cookies as well.
    You should also only allow Java and Java Script on a site by site basis too as you can be tracked through that.
    Keep no History and disable form Autofill.
    I have everything to do with Google permanently blocked.
    Some highly recommended Firefox plug-ins are – NoScript, BetterPrivacy and, AdBlock.
    Because I do this I am not troubled by unwanted adverts or popups at all. I think that all browsers should come configured to automatically act like mine does. They should not rely upon the knowledge of the user to do this as most people do not have the time or experience to do it for themselves.
    P.S. Get yourself a decent SSH proxy or VPN too or, use one of the free ones if you don’t mind a bit of a speed penalty.

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  • cookie

    I too have cookies blocked by default and only allow them when necessary and then delete them again right away – this seems to work well.
    Out of interest I when to the website re the opt-out and the first thing it said was that I had to enable cookies – reading further it said that if one deletes their cookie he/she must start again with the opt-out process.