What is Reddit's opinion of
Ghostery?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
100 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
While using the free browser extension Ghostery, my browser only made 31 requests and loaded in 828 ms.
Not bad.
German here, who previously lived in the US and got acquainted with the different attitudes toward data privacy. I think what currently happens should in the US should teach Americans to rethink their negligence when it comes to data protection: Imagine the big tech companies were not trying to turn their opposition towards the Trump administration into profit, but instead would collaborate with Trump. With the data and technology it would be an easy thing for them to create huge data bases about who opposes trump and who has strong dissenting attitudes towards him.
The history of Germany (Gestapo in the 3rd Reich and Stasi in the GDR) has made many of us more aware of the dangers of carelessly letting other people allot lots of data about them.
EDIT: For some easy steps towards more privacy (easier maybe than to delete your account), consider installing Ghostery which prevents Facebook and Google to track you while browsing on sites that e.g. use Google Analytics or Facebook Like Buttons. Offer friends to send you PGP encrypted mails: Not even NSA can crack mails that are encrypted with 4096 bits. I found this introduction quite helpful. Installing gnupg and enigmail is easy!
EDIT2: As /u/Audiovore pointed out, Disconnect or Blur might better alternatives to Ghostery.
> However, there does not appear to have been any change to the functionality of the website itself. Browsing the Better Health site will still result in details about the conditions you look up being shared with AddThis and Facebook.
This just ain't right.
Those of us even remotely familiar with such practices would expect it of privately owned websites. But the government "sharing", i.e. probably selling in some fashion, this data with businesses should be illegal.
If anyone is bothered by this practice be aware that there is free software you can download to control / stop tracking, eg. Ghostery.
For those wondering where that number came from ... hit http://beta.slashdot.org/ with Ghostery enabled and just let the browser sit there a while. You'll hit 60+ blocks after about 30 seconds.
EDIT: In order to get the full effect you'll need to temporarily disable the blocking feature of Ghostery (along with any other blockers you might have enabled) for the site. If you block the initial scripts they won't lazy-load the other trackers (and becons and whatnot).
Ghostery. In your browser, it lets you turn off trackers. Beacons, analytics, advertisements, widgets, even font systems and videos. Let's say you accidentally click one of those "Sponsored" things on Facebook. Here's what that might look like. Even Reddit has a couple trackers. Beyond removing things that creep you out and you don't want, it makes pages like CNN (with 18+ trackers) load much faster. Those banner ads on the side? Gone. Usually the only things I leave on are videos and widgets.
I've been using Ghostery for a while now, works pretty well. I've not really come across any pages that break as a result of it.
EDIT: For the record, after this thread I gave Adguard (mentioned in the top comments by the "Dude" guy who's now been deleted) a go and have since switched to using this on all my platforms (Safari on Mac and iOS, and Firefox). I'd never heard about it until now. You learn something new every day!
Also helpful:
- Block Ads/Malware sites with your hosts file
- Ghostery (make sure "Enable Ghost Rank" is NOT checked)
- Noscript
PROTIP: You can use apps like Ghostery and uBlock Origin to block trackers that collect your data. Firefox also developed a thing called Facebook Container that disables Facebook's like and share buttons on third party websites, making it harder for them to track your activity.
None of these are perfect but they're a must if you want basic privacy protection online.
To help combat tracking from sites you might want to try the extension Ghostery. I've been using it for a few months and it's pretty non-invasive. https://www.ghostery.com/
EDIT: See below post of Disconnect vs. Ghostery
It's not so much the ad's creative as much as how much shit is baked into the flash itself. All kinds of tracking pixels and measurement tools agencies and publishers use. When there are dozens of banners on each page it can increase load times like CRAZY. News sites are totally the worst, I've seen some with over 99 tracking pixels in place.
If you're interested to see what's loaded onto each site you visit, you can download Ghostery for free. I work in advertising too and use it to check functionality for my company's pixels (sorry).
They actually track people that don't have accounts as well, so that wouldn't really do much.
Ghostery is your best bet if you want facebook to stop tracking you--it's a simple instilation that prevents selected types of scripts from running on your browser.
It is an easy to use plug-in that really should be built into browsers imho.
Also it can make pages load faster if you set it to prevent all 3rd party scripts.
Google is also an ad company, yet you're probably using their browser, video service, email service, and serarch engine.
The source is available and took me about 5 seconds to find. https://www.ghostery.com/ghosteries/chrome/
You think it's OK for Microsoft to do it just because everybody else is doing it? People like you are exactly the problem. The reason why these companies keep being allowed to do this. Privacy is a real concern for everybody, including you. You don't know what will be done with all your data. Even if you for some reason trust the all the corporations and the government with your data, it can still be stolen from them and used against you.
There are lots of corporations that probably have a lot of data on you: Google, Microsoft, Facebook, FBI (not a corp but still) and your ISP. But you can most certainly minimize how much data you give away. Browser extensions like uBlock and Ghostery will keep trackers away and programs like ShutUp10 will stop most of Windows 10's "telemetry". Even though it probably has some sort of government backdoor Tor will still help. I would also recommend Firefox over Chrome since it does not track your usage.
Now, you can make fun of my tin foil hat or whatever, but this is really happening and you know it can be used against you. Please, please guys, understand that this is an incredibly serious problem that can only be solved when we're all on the same page.
/rant
Thanks for pointing this out.
However, these sources date from 2016 (Source A), 2013 (B) and 2015 (C).
Ghostery was acquired by German company Cliqz in 2017:
https://www.ghostery.com/blog/ghostery-news/ghostery-acquired-cliqz/
And in 2018, they open sourced their extension:
https://www.ghostery.com/blog/product-releases/ghostery-goes-open-source/
I'm not saying they're perfect, and I have no way of judging how good or honest they are.
For what it's worth, I ditched them in favour of DuckDuckGo's extension some 2 weeks ago.
You need Ghostery AND Adblock.
I also have hacked my "hosts" file with this list:
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ (there are other lists to be found)
...and I think that's where my problem in seeing this video must be, but I'm not changing it for THIS video...
That's is a common misconception. Ghostery includes a feature that phones home statistics about trackers it encounters. Importantly, that feature is turned off by default.
They explain what it collects in the FAQ and in much more detail on their blog.
Disconnect is a good alternative, although it was less configurable the last time I used it.
Privacy Badger seems to only block tracking by third party sites, not by the site you are visiting. Their algorithmic approach to detection is pretty promising, though.
The purple thingy on the right shows you all the tracking scripts that are installed on SmitePedia
SmitePedia tracks you and sells your data and profile to all those companies.
Usually websites have 2-3 ... maybe 5 tracking scripts on them.
To protect yourself from you can use Ghostery with Adblock ...
Take a look at Ghostery. Many websites allow trackers to monitor your every move, which is sold to advertising companies. I just refuse to allow my personal information to be given away for someone else's profit.
(If NoScript does the same thing, just ignore this).
DuckDuckGo is just one site which doesn't track you. Do Not Track is a flag, set by the browser, which requests that the site not track the user, and is widely ignored.
Privacy Badger is an extension similar to Disconnect or Ghostery, which plugs into your browser and aims to allow you to block all sites from tracking where you go and what you do.
> And before you tell me you opted out of them selling your data,
Even the article you link to says that it is Opt-In, so let's see what the config page for Ghostery says,
> Help support Ghostery by sending anonymous statistical data back to Ghostery HQ. > > When you enable Ghostrank™, Ghostery collects anonymous data about the trackers you've encountered and the sites on which they were placed. This data is about tracking elements and the webpages on which they are found, not you or your browsing habits.
And what do Ghostery say themselves? (emphasis mine),
> Ghostrank is off by default, meaning you can use Ghostery without sharing anything with us if you'd prefer. (But please opt-in. It is how we keep Ghostery free and continue to make it the best tool out there!)
So I have it off, and it's off by default, so you have no legitimacy in saying that anyone has to "opt out" of it. You're simply confused.
~~Seems like the outrage to this worked. I clicked on the link you gave and nothing is loading (just a plain white screen with a header "Join team Jarrett" on the tab) so they might have abandoned ship on this idea. Either that or it's just not loading for me.~~
EDIT: Ah, my mistake. I had Ghostery running which hides trackers and blocks a lot of bullshit from showing on your average web page. The linked page is 100% bullshit so all I got was a blank white screen.
2x EDIT: Holy shit, after seeing Jarrett's spiel I think we've found an early winner for the WON most disgusting promotional tactic for 2016.
Ghostery doesn't help from blocking ads per-se. It's marketed as an extension to block things that track you. Some ads are included in that, but not all.
And, FWIW, Ghostery sells user data: http://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actually-sells-data-to-a-514417864
Quick edit: Even check out the Official Ghostery Site.
They mentioned it on their website~~, so it's not super shady~~: Ghostery 5.4.6 New for YOU!
>The second messaging tool is what we call the “CMP” (Consumer Messaging Platform). The CMP will allow us to message our users directly in their browser with product announcements, promotions, and other appropriate notifications. This messaging system and can be turned off at any time by accessing the advanced tab of the options menu.
But I honestly hadn't noticed the option before I read this post, so it's not like they've abused the "feature" yet.
I've disabled their CMP now, thanks for the heads up.
you can install Ghostery on your favourite browser to view and block who's tracking you online.
Edit: Look here to learn about trackers: https://info.evidon.com/about_behavioral_advertising/section1
I use the Ghostery addon for that!
It show you all trackers in different categories, lets you choose which ones to block, shows which might be slowing down your browser and more.
Cliqz? Yeah Mozilla made a strategic investment in them in 2016.
I thought the big controversy was with optional features like GhostRank and Ghostery Rewards. Basically them selling data to advertisers. GhostRank existed well before the 2017 acquisition by Cliqz though and Ghostery Rewards was introduced in 2018 with version 8.2 so I don't know how much of this is Cliqz shaking things up.
Its normal. The reason the game does this, I believe, is to find out how you were referred to the game. If you don't like trackers I would get a browser extension like Ghostery
It's the same as using Google to get to that website's search page, except they won't track you like Google does. I don't think changing the search engine you use would stop specific websites from tracking you. That's what something like Ghostery would be for.
I personally would exchange Ghostery with Disconnect and definitely add HTTPS Everywhere (not necessarily a privacy extension but definitely reccomended).
You can read about GhostRank here, and you can opt-out (or have to opt-in I think).
Isn't this opt-in? The page I read about that yesterday told users to enable it (click it).
> One last thing
> All this only happens when you give us the okay.
> So if this sounds like a good deal to you, visit Ghostery’s options page and click “Enable Ghostrank.”
To those who wish to avoid all this nonsense, block everything on the domain pixel.redditmedia.com as that's where the tracking happens. You can do this via your hosts file:
127.0.0.1 pixel.redditmedia.com
Also, I believe Ghostery blocks stuff on this domain.
I think you underestimate the amount of data facebook is able to collect through features outside of its own application (for example the like button on numerous websites).
In the end a discussion about whether google or facebook is invading your life more compares to whether you would rather have athlete's foot or haemorrhoids.
Also: Everybody should use a tool like ghostery for at least minimal protection.
They did, however it seems they were bought by Cliqz, a subsidiary of Mozilla, just over a year ago. They then proceeded to make it open source.
As stated by their FAQ here, Ghostery does not sell or share user data.
I use the ghostery plugin it shows you what trackers and plugins are on websites and you can turn them on/off and whitelist them. It's pretty effective and I haven't had any issues with it.
It's a little more nuanced than that. The ghostery guys have shown up on Reddit to talk about it from time to time.
Basically they aggregate information from their users about which advertisers are doing what where, and then sell that information to companies who might use those advertisers. So if a company wants to know whether to advertise with DickGroup Ads Incorporated, or Fuckstick Marketing LLC, then Ghostery can say "well, data from our users says that DickGroup ads are shown on such-and-such million sites, seen by so-and-so many users. Also, by the way, we block their shit. Whereas Fuckstick ads are shown on such-and-such million sites, seen by so-and-so-many users. Also, by the way, we block their shit."
This is valuable information to somebody thinking of advertising with DickGroup, and it helps them evaluate whether to go with DickGroup Ads or FuckStick Intrusive Marketing.
Collecting that data is voluntary and opt-in.
https://www.ghostery.com/en/faq/how-does-ghostery-make-money-from-the-add-on/
https://www.ghostery.com/en/home
Blocks advertising trackers and stuff like that. Doesn't necessarily block the bad ads itself like Adblock but it helps stop any communication through 3rd party services like ad platforms.
Man kan profile super meget med div. analyseværktøjer. Pornhub bruger (ligesom mange danske sider - også offentlige!) Google Analytics. Hvis Google f.eks. kan knytte et køn, en interesse eller en lokation ud fra søgninger, dine bevægelser på en side, du tidligere har besøgt eller pba. login på en f.eks. en kommunal hjemmeside, så vil det blive knyttet til din "profil" (gemt vha. unikt ID i en cookie og på Googles servere). Denne information deles til andre, som bruger Google Analytics, hvilket gør værktøjet utrolig stærkt!
Der opsamles også information om hvordan du browser og efter hvad. Informationen kan også komme fra andre partnere. Hvis man f.eks. melder sig ind i H&M-club, kommer dit CPR-nummer og din profil også ind hos Google, som via en underleverandør samarbejder med H&M.
Mange er ikke klar over hvor meget data, der faktisk kører rundt. Man har mulighed for at blokere meget af det, der opsamles ved alm. browsing ved at blokere disse trackers. https://www.ghostery.com/ er et godt, simpelt plugin til dette.
I wouldn't use Ghostery either. Not only because it made its money by selling data to trackers (advertisers), but also because it recently sold its privacy software to a new owner and who knows what direction things will take.
It's owned by a marketing company. Part of their business model is to sell userdata (they claim: only if you opted in) to their customers. They offer a "marketing cloud" (their own terminology). The company behind it was first named "The Better Advertising Project" then "Evidon" and now just "Ghostery, Inc.".
See on their websites the things they offer to companies https://www.ghostery.com/
It's not anything too weird or outlandish, but at the same time, it's absolutely not what you expect when you download that ghostery extension.
This makes sense. So always use protection when browsing pornsites (eg. Ghostery
Ghostery is the answer.
Edit: It's a browser extension that blocks trackers. You'd be surprised who tracks your surf-behaviour. Download Link
You do realize that ghostery is openly working with corporations, they're an advertisement firm. They sell the user data to the companys who host the ad's they are blocking... User data is worth more than ads...
It sounds like you just hate the entire experience. Bummer.
In case you weren't aware, there's a way to use other sites’ features from DDG. !bang syntax.
It works like this. Instead of “google maps best beer in San Diego” just search for “best beer San Diego !maps”. DDG redirects you directly to the Google Maps of your search. “Dodge meme !i” takes you to Google Images. “ERB Batman !yt” takes you to YouTube. “iOS fonts !g” will even take you directly to Google search results from DDG. !bangs are extensive and usually do what you'd expect them to without looking them up first. Ex: !a = Amazon, !y = yahoo, !w = Wikipedia, !ebay, !so = Stack Overflow.
Finally, you can avoid that top line of Wikipedia stuff by turning off Instant Answers in your settings.
But maybe DDG just isn't right for you. It sounds like maybe you could work around some of the user experience stuff, but really want the Google experience with a tiny bit more privacy. May I suggest the Ghostery extension for your browser? https://www.ghostery.com/
Google is an advertising company as well, yet I see a ton of people advocating for Google Fiber, keep using Youtube, Keep using Gmail, keep using Youtube, keep using Google Chrome.
Also, the source is available: https://www.ghostery.com/ghosteries/chrome/
En fait ces boutons permettent aux sites en question, quand tu es déjà loggé avec ce navigateur, de connaître les sites que tu visites (sans que tu cliques dessus, s'entend). Facebook fait beaucoup ça évidemment mais ce ne sont pas les seuls.
Perso je ne vois pas ce qu'il y a d'insurmontable à coller un lien sur reddit par rapport à bêtement cliquer sur un bouton. A la limite tant mieux, si quelqu'un juge qu'un contenu ne vaut pas la peine qu'il change d'onglet pour le poster je préfère encore qu'on s'en passe...
PS : Ghostery pour désactiver ces vilains mouchards. Et pensez à la navigation privée (sur laquelle vous n'êtes pas loggé sur les réseaux sociaux).
Push to change the opt-out law into an opt-in law. This would be the most effective first step to protect citizens from being data-mined without their knowledge or consent. Contact your representatives and local political groups, create a grass-root movement, use your democracy for what it is meant to be. This is a long-term solution: starve them out.
Raise awareness among your peers, your fellow citizens about this issue. They won't support the above solution if they don't understand its significance. Also mention the below solutions.
Use GHOSTERY to prevent built-in data collection while you browse. It's an add-on that detects what is watching you from behind the web page and lets you decide if you want to allow them to continue watching your every click and move or if you want to shut the blinders in their face. Use AD-BLOCK or other ad-blocking programs to avoid being influenced by these targeted ads. These methods are easy to start using, however, I believe companies can pay to be exempted from it being used on them. Thus, these are not long-term solutions, but rather quickly implemented, short-term solutions.
Delete the Facebook apps from your phone (Facebook and Facebook Messenger). Data is being collected through them [not exclusively]. Use the web browser when you absolutely must use Facebook, and turn to other communication channels to message your friends and loved ones. This will limit their ability to collect data on you.
Turn off your Location feature unless you are actively using it. This will at least somewhat limit the amount of information they can get on you. Also, please note pictures taken with it turned on will be tagged as such in the metadata. If you then share those picture, they will retain this information.
Due to tracking cookies embedded in Facebook social buttons and comment modules, anyone who accesses any site using Facebook plugins like that but does not have a Facebook profile will have a shadow profile automatically created for them. If at any time that person actually creates a Facebook account, that previously created shadow profile is automatically merged with their 'brand new' account.
Deleting a Facebook account does not prevent you from bring tracked, there's more work to do than that.
In order to mitigate this, look at using Ghostery or Disconnect.
Typically, if you are logged in to Facebook while you browse the Internet, Facebook knows where you've been. It's called a 'tracker' and most websites have some type or another.
I use Ghostery. It's a completely customizable blocker. You can block all trackers, just some trackers or completely whitelist certain sites.
Ah right. To be fair, that is the first option in their settings, and explains that they sell it to businesses, what data it is, why, etc.
Having just looked into it, their breakdown on how it works is linked to in the FAQ and they do make the source code available for perusal.
Obviously I'd rather they not sell my data, but then, I've never had that option enabled.
If you combine this technology with a secure, 256bit AES encrypted VPN service, plus a web browser that supports Ghostery, you will be in business!
But yes, the end user still needs to take a few more steps if they want to be truly secure.
Then again, anyone who knows anything about security measures (be in cyber, or physical security) knows that redundancy and multiple, functioning layers are key.
You're certainly welcome to be paranoid, but as others have said, Ghostrank is opt-in and disabled by default. Also, there is no such thing as closed source javascript. Ghostery's code is both open source and very readable.
You need to give Ghostery a try. On Facebook it blocks 1 javascript from loading, from Atlas advertising, so Adblock has ~~no~~ less ads to block. It's probably much less taxing on your system that way.
You can watch the network tab on your browser. Ghostery makes it much easier to see what’s going on. I haven’t used it in years. https://www.ghostery.com/. What may be hard to tell is if it’s the publisher/site that’s using it vs the advertiser
>The Human Web is built using world-leading privacy-by-design practices that ensures that any data that is collected is done completely anonymously without any personally identifiable information.
>
>...
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>The Human Web data collection framework requires that the data points contributed by users are evaluated only as a single, aggregated event, disentangling these signals from any personally-identifiable information
>
>...
>
>As a further safety precaution, this information is sent through the Human Web proxy network, a series of peer-to-peer proxies that remove information like the user IP addresses, making it virtually impossible to determine who or where the data comes from.
>
>...
>
>If you do not want the Human Web to collect anonymous statistical data about your searches and website visits, you can adjust your settings in the Ghostery Menu.
24v opiskelija, kesän jälkeen toivottavasti KTM-paperit hallussa.
Duunissa sillä kalliimmalla ruokaketjulla, jossa teen mainonnan kohdennusta. Markkinointiin en ihan hirveästi usko, mutta en suuremmin valita sillä ihan lepposta hommaa opintojen ohessa.
Protip: Vaikka useammalla on varmasti jonkinlainen AdBlock-plugin käytössä selaimessa niin lataa ihmeessä esim. Ghostery (https://www.ghostery.com/) niin yritykset ei myy dataasi maailmalle.
>I would give the boot to Ghostery. It's redundant with uBlock
>...and, I believe, has been involved with some shaddy business practices (such as selling user data).
Yup. Ghostery is now owned by Cliqz, the same company that's been made headlines for Firefox privacy concerns as of late. Ghostery should not be trusted by any user IMO. uBlock Origin can do everything it can and more -- plus it's open source
There is controversy as some people have claimed Ghostry plays a dual role, blocking other companies but selling the data themselves. The Ghostry Product Privacy Statement goes into it a bit, saying that they gather "Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, web browser, operating systems, and opt-in settings", but that they "do not use or share with third parties any collected information for the purpose tracking individuals or otherwise target ads to them."
Ghostry was open-souce in the past, but was aquired by "Better Advertising" in 2010 and has since changed their code license to a proprietary one.
Their terms and conditions are pretty hairy, there's a clause stating you may not "(vii) design, build, or cause to be designed or built any competing or derivative product or service." and a requirement to report anything "that contravenes or may contravene the terms of this EULA" to their legal department. Also the classic "Ghostery reserves the right to change these Terms at any time without notice to you" and "Your continued use of the Website after the posting of changes to the Terms means you agree to these changes". The rest of it seems pretty much boiler-plate legal garbage.
I believe it's available for Windows/Firefox users, but there is a Firefox extension called Ghostery which can be configured to block tracking cookies. If you're really concerned, this is something to consider, IMHO.
You could use ghostery too, just as effective and possibly lighter. Over 20 million people use it! :P
PS: If you start to use it you will be totally astonished at how many trackers websites use to monitor you.
(I'm a Ghostery developer)
It's not really fair to call us an ad company. The closest we get to ads is serving the little icon inside of advertisements that lets you opt out of tracking by that company. Other things we sell are the reports based on the Ghostrank data we collect from users who opt in.
But anyways, even though we're not open source in a way that people can contribute to and use the code, you are free to look at the code to make sure we're not doing anything unacceptable.
> Did I mention ghostery sell user data to marketers?
"User data" is rather a broad term. Do they sell individual user data? Or is it rather aggregated anonymous data? According to Ghostery, it's the second. And it looks like they collect this data on opt-in basis. I guess you can always question whether they keep their word or not, but such skepticism could be applied to other websites and services as well.
Reddit also sells "user data" but again, it's anonymous and aggregated data that's not tied to an individual account.
> In terms of cookies, can deleting them when you log off solve anything?
Yes. You can also install plugins like Ghostery or Disconnect to stop getting those cookies in the first place.
Whenever you go to a website like youtube you always have 3rd party companies tracking your movements. They collect the data, your current location using your ISP and your browser habits and then are able to send you ads accordingly. Which is if you watch porn and then 10 minutes later browsing a different website you may get a viagra ad. Use this chrome extension to help block and see what is tracking you. This is an example of what it looks like. The purple list are the 3rd parties that track you on amazon for that page/at that time.
If you want REAL anti advertising you download Ghostery and http protect (forget the exact name)
This prevents all those pesky trackers and what not. Ghostery interferes with MLG so I didn't suggest it because it will still give you the DISABLE ADblock page; if you pause ghostery it will work.
It's a really great program to get rid of those trackers that sites are filled with.
Donc ces messages sont à chier. On se fiche royalement qu'un site utilise des cookies ou non, de même que je ne soucie guère de savoir si il tourne sur un nginx, en PHP, chez OVH sur un grillepain.
Que l'on fasse juste une classe de gestion des cookies transparentes.
> mettre un cookie pour te délivrer des pubs en fonction de tes centres d intérêts
Un cookie sert simplement à identifier. En gros, le site pose un identifiant sur ta machine. le cookie, c'est ce morceau de texte. Le plus embêtants étant les trackers. Si tu veux te cacher des trackers, je te recommande fortement l'addon Ghostery.
Ghostery - unlike adblock, it also blocks the tracking scripts. Plugins available for most browsers,browsing is a lot faster when twenty-odd javascript analytics files don't run onload. https://www.ghostery.com/
It also tells you what networks were trying to track you. Shockingly, theonion.com pulls 11.
Also, as long as wwe are talking about turbo-lazer avoidance software, I cannot recomend Ghostery enough, for both your ad avoidance, cookie avaoidance and browsing needs.
No longer true, although it was for several years. The people developing Ghostery definitely took a few tries to find a business model that worked. I think they have it right now.
> Headquartered in New York, the Ghostery apps and browser extensions are developed and operated by Ghostery, Inc., a fully-owned subsidiary of Cliqz GmbH. Cliqz is a German search, browser and data protection technology company backed by Mozilla and Hubert Burda Media. Neither Cliqz nor Ghostery share any data about individual users with third parties.
Tip: Install this extension to block or control ads & cookies. I use it mostly for work to stalk what technologies other sites use though :D.
https://www.ghostery.com/
It's opt-in and pretty clearly warns when you install it, if you care about privacy you should be reading the tickboxs you click
https://www.ghostery.com/about-ghostery/browser-extension-privacy-policy/
~~Funnily enough, Ghostery. As of a year ago, they were bought by Mozilla. They don't sell data and the only data they collect is your name and email address for contact.~~
~~Regarding sale of collected data~~
~~Not saying they can be trusted, but it seems they're a decent option now.~~
Am idiot. Please ignore.
I'm going to repost this for you because these blockers are a god-send.
Use uBlock Origin and/or Ghostery. I use both. Don't use adblock. They know. Recently I had an issue with firefox on the site and installed chrome just for streaming. Runs like a charm.
They say they used URLs and timestamps. If you read Ghostery's Browser Extension Privacy Policy you will note that they collect, among other things, "your web request" and the timestamp for that request. I guess that Ghostery falls into the "some" category.
They also claim that they don't currently sell this data to third parties, but they keep it anyway and will provide it to government agencies upon request. Presumably anyone's government for whatever fishing expedition that said government is involved in at the time. Given that there are other alternatives to Ghostery available it makes no sense to continue using a service that puts your browsing history at risk.
edit: spelling
>ASUS VX239H-W 23 Zoll
This is an IPS panel and is overall better.
>also does my motherboard have Bluetooth integrated ?
It does not have Bluetooth.
As for software, these are my recommendations:
>https://www.ghostery.com/try-us/download-browser-extension/
You have an oversimplified view of how web sites work.
Nearly all of them bury scripts/single pixel images/buttons from 3rd-party tracking sites that follow you all across the web. That's what things like facebook buttons do.
You can also install ghostery, which lets you select exactly which data collectors can track you and on which pages. For instance, on this page I'm blocking Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Also, it's free.
Great time to look at services like https://www.ghostery.com/ Blocks analytic providers from using your data to make money, who knows how long it will be before it goes the Adblocker route, but it's there and it works as advertised for now.
I've been using Ghostery for the last 2 or 3 weeks. Unlike Adamant which I'd just tried an hour ago, Ghostery doesn't cause a long pause when loading YT video (while still blocking the ads). I don't know if Ghostery is considered a Safari Content Blocker (although it's what Marco Armant's now defunct Peace was based on). I don't know how much faster or slower it is either compared to Adamant or uBlock, but I like the fact that I can create a personalized whitelist.
>Is it possible that this service is just hiding your information from Google but using it for whoever owns Ghostery?
In fact yes it does, https://www.ghostery.com/en/faq#q4-general
at one point in time I believe it was enabled by default, not sure if it is anymore. But I am sure that their setup process doesn't explain everything that is going on beyond 'turn this on to help us!'
It's still fairly easy to just turn off their service that feeds them data though.
I've used it previously, but it seems to have changed a lot since then.
What it used to be was an extension that blocked third-party connections (hence the name "Disconnect"), which would stop many attempts to track your web browsing, with the nice bonus effects of blocking most advertising and making most websites faster to load.
What it is now though... An extension that shows you who is tracking you, but makes no attempt to stop them? It seems if you actually want any privacy from this, you'll have to pay for their VPN service, and their web site doesn't even mention ad-blocking or faster browsing.
TL;DR
I think you're better off using Ghostery.
Then again, Disconnect claims to be open source, so maybe there's a forked project somewhere which includes the old functionality?
Being suspicious of such a blanket statement without accredited source, and as a regular Ghostery user myself, I did a couple of Google searches on this. What chickendeer claims appears to be partially true.
Ghostery sells "anonymous" data on what ads you block back to the marketing industry (which they presumably use to help develop ads that you will be less likely to block). This is true, however is only enabled if the "GhostRank" feature is enabled (or at least so is claimed).
Sources:
Ghostery is also a pretty damn good app for blocking unwanted scripts running.
I wouldn't be worried about TMC/Killboards etc and seeing as you aren't in the CFC and wont be using goon fleet stuff you are absolutely fine, they wont have an ip never mind something to connect it too.
Ip's arent even all that useful for doxxing, they show the general area they are from and thats really it. Ip's change and ISP's dont release any info about them. The only thing you can do with an IP is compare it to another IP.
Doxxing requires other stuff like emails, names, usernames and other personal information that can be used to find more information. Its unfortunately something that is very easy to do if someone isnt careful with their online presence. Things like deleting old forum accounts and removing information from them and using different usernames and emails can make it impossible for doxxers. Its just carelessness that makes you vulnerable to this kind of invasion.
They report anonymous data back to ghostery, if you turn it on. Specifically, if you find new trackers that aren't in the database, it updates to block more stuff.
It doesn't track anything about you, or your surfing habits, or advertising data, etc. Its just to find new stuff to block.
edit: https://www.ghostery.com/en/how-we-make-money
Its disabled by default, but if you want to help them find more trackers, you can turn it on, and they purposefully make sure they don't track anything specific to you.
I think there are some alternatives that will perform the same functions as NoScript for Safari. You might check out Ghostery or JavaScript Blocker.
From Ghostery's page on Typekit:
Privacy Policy: http://www.adobe.com/privacy/typekit.html
> Data Collected: > Anonymous (Serving Domains) > > Data Sharing: > Undisclosed > > Data Retention: > Undisclosed
Seems like a good reason to block it from Ghostery's point of view. As a Ghostery user, I'm comfortable with it blocking that, and if it makes a site unusable, so much the worse for that site. (Or if I really can't live without it, I can make an exception for the site.)
Really? What why do you think that? I'm curious because I use and recommend ghostery often.
Edit: and a quick search reveals this is true, to a degree. It seems Ghostery takes note of the ads you block, and sells that anonymous data to advertisers. It still blocks, but yes, they're recording anonymous data and selling it to advertisers — the very thing most people using Ghostery, I'd think, were hopeing to stop.
more here: http://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actually-sells-data-to-a-514417864 and here: https://www.ghostery.com/en/faq#q10-general
Could you explain what they actually are logging? I went one their site ( https://www.ghostery.com/en/how-we-make-money )but could not determine exactly what they are logging. Is ghostery bad for anonymity? They say:
> 1. Not only do we not collect any information about you on purpose, we take steps to make sure we’re not storing anything that could get back to you if someone tried.
>2. [we collect] Standard web server log information, such as the IP address and http headers. (Please note that we do not store IP addresses.)
Edit: typo
Noscript blocks all scripts unless authorized, but is firefox only to my knowledge. There is probably an equivalent though. Ghostery blocks all the connections ads / other crap make from the website your are visiting to the outside that aren't visible ads.
Social Fixer is pretty great for making Facebook shut up. A lot of customizing options to get rid of both the noise and the silly features you don't like. Ghostery and Disconnect are good for keeping FB and others away from everything else you're trying to do. I've also got an add-on called "No Youtube Comments" that hides the comments anywhere you go on Youtube. This is all on Firefox for me, I can't speak on how many of these work on Chrome.
I find Ghostery to be more effective, as it can optionally block and unblock, it's kept up to date (so if some new tracking thing comes along they'll deal with it for me) and, of course, it blocks much more than just facespace and GA
I don't do anything online without AdBlock, and only turn it off for about 3 websites I like to support with advertising money.
Otherwise, Google and their ads haven't made money from me in years.
I also run Ghostery, which blocks many of the trackers.
The soon-to-be Ghostery Browser will pick up where CLIQZ left off.
I started a page for them today. You can check there for updates. r/ghostery_browser
u/ArchitSasta u/qqwerpy
> Ghostery’s Signature Privacy Protection Technologies
> Targeted offers
> Among other things, it analyzes which websites the user visits and what the user has searched previously for on the Internet. This provides the basis for determining potential purchase intent.
> it sends out [...] data.
> Campaigns developed in collaboration with our business clients are always tied to particular trigger rules. This means that various rules (e.g. when, then, and, or, not at all) are used to define specific requirements that must be met before a relevant offer is displayed in a user’s browser.
> The right offer is activated and displayed in the browser at the right moment only when the user’s behavior corresponds to the previously defined trigger rules and other additional requirements.
Basically this part shows ads, processes private data to target them, and sends out some related data.
Another example of their glorious Ghostery's Signature Privacy Protection Technology ? They send out
> query-URL required to improve the search results from the Ghostery SEarch backend
> data that are used to detect websites to add to the Ghostery-index
> while you are typing into GMB’s combined browser-and-search-bar, GMB sends your keystrokes to our servers
> GMB sends to our servers data about your website visits and how you interact with this website.
> In cases where it adds to the improvement of result ranking and result snippet information, GMB also collects the site’s content
Apparently all that is opt-out.
Basically they think they are entitled to all that data just because they anonymize it.
This Black Mirror experience is partly brought to you by Mozilla, that invested in that project.
Easier, yes.
But you can target a wider range of consumers with a wider array of products with more vendors if you have the data on things they'll like.
But it's more than that.
Say you have a friend that's very for a specific political party, you haven't googled the political party, but you like what your friend has to say.
So you like their posts on facebook and twitter and Instagram.
Suddenly Facebook knows you like the things this person is saying, so they can target you with pro party ads or ads that appeal to other people who like that same party.
It's a lot more insidious than scanning your google search history, they can tailor your entire experiance to what you like and the people you interact with and the post you like, soft locking you out of other views and feed you stuff they know you like before you even do.
It's way worse than listening on your mic.
Honestly, I'd suggest getting a browser addon that notifies you of trackers on websites.
I use ghostery https://www.ghostery.com/
So many websites track you and send that data directly to facebook or what ever company facebook buys that data from and uses it in ways you might not even realise are possible.
And it only gets more powerful as new programming and data analysis is developed.
Easier, sure. More money for facebook, oh yeah.
Hi! :)
Would it be possible to have some more info on this line from your Privacy Policy? This is where I got that idea from;
>In order for Human Web to function we automatically collect non-private URLs
What is considered a non-private URL?
> I believe Ghostery is no longer reputable.
I've looked into it just now and that's not the case.
At one point concerns were raised about the possibility of them possibly secretly gathering and selling data. In response to that they made their code open source.
No-one has found anything dinky in the source code.
Https Everywhere from Electronic Frontier Foundation
> HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
> Ghostery helps you browse smarter by giving you control over ads and tracking technologies to speed up page loads, eliminate clutter, and protect your data.
There's 2 articles covering this Art. 33 GDPR Notification of a personal data breach to the supervisory authority >In the case of a personal data breach, the controller shall without undue delay and, where feasible, not later than 72 hours after having become aware of it, notify the personal data breach to the supervisory authority competent in accordance with Article 55, unless the personal data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons. Where the notification to the supervisory authority is not made within 72 hours, it shall be accompanied by reasons for the delay.
You should be in the clear on that one
And Art. 34 GDPR Communication of a personal data breach to the data subject
I think a simple apology email explaining the situation would be sufficient, but do read the articles for yourself.
A popular browser plugin called Ghostery had a similar incident, and it might be worth checking how they handled the situation
Reading through the privacy policy, it would suggest most of these metrics can be disabled. Can anyone confirm this reading through the code on Github?