Ad cookie blocking sites

[roadie gal]

I didn't want to hijack the Facebook thread so I figured I'd start a new one.

There are a few sites that you can go to to block those annoying and scarily personal ads that pop up. The sites allow you to put up "opt out" cookies for the most common sites that follow your surfing habits and then send you tailored ads.

Here's the one for the Network Advertising Innitiative:
http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

and here's the one from the Self Regulatory Program for Online Bahavioral Advertising:
http://www.aboutads.info/

For both of them you have to enable 3rd party cookies in order to put on their "opt out" cookie. You can go back to your usual privacy settings after that. (Mine is set to not accept 3rd party cookies.) If you delete your cookies you have to reset the opt outs. I've seen a significant drop off of personalized ads since I signed up with these sites.

[OakLeaf]

Those just limit the ads that are delivered to you. They don't do anything to prevent companies from tracking you and data-mining your behavior.

The best way to limit access to your online behavior is to allow only the scripts that are necessary for a site to run; if they're high-risk scripts from sites like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, etc., to allow them only temporarily and then delete the flash cookie when you navigate away from the site.

And even then, be aware that there's no real privacy. That's nothing new and it has almost nothing to do with the Internet. Just for instance, if you've ever filed a health insurance claim or filled a prescription, your medical information is for sale to a whole array of companies. If you use a store loyalty card, your buying habits are analyzed. It's just life in the modern world.

[roadie gal]

I wasn't meaning to imply that this did more than keep you from getting ads.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks roadie gal, for posting this information! I have now opted out of all of the ones I could. I didn't know it was possible to do this, so I do appreciate you sharing this!