I've been reading about web page cookies: https://thenextweb.com/news/is-cookie-w ... yndication
You might enjoy reading the article too even though you probably already know everything that they explain. The author(s) did a survey of 80,000 popular websites to see what kind of tracking is going on. They used a tool called Blacklingt which I believe they developed. All you need to do is type in a URL and that site gets scanned for whatever it is using to track you. Other than the information it provides about trackers, the tool doesn't do much. I checked out Brainformation, and to nobody's surprise nothing was found to be tracking anybody. Then I traced the site with the above article. There were dozens of trackers identified to be active. LOL No, I was not surprised about the number, but some of the companies tracking me from there did raise an eyebrow.
Blacklight
Re: Blacklight
Interesting read Yogi, but as you know, I've used a couple of different tracking cookie blockers now for years. They are both on and active on all of my web browsers and computers.
One is particularly useful as it lets me block elements of a page I don't want to see on other pages from the same website.
Albeit, Farcebook has found a way around them and will still drop a pop-up on your page when you are on another member website. Which most of the time really messes up what you are working on too. It's also something I've not found a way to block since it is not a direct part of the screen and generated independently of the web page.
I like Ghostery for blocking specific trackers while allowing other valuable trackers we do want. Like remember log-in info, etc.
And AdBlockPro lets me block specific elements on a page, without blocking them on the pages I may want them to appear on.
I got both of those down pat after many years of use, hi hi.
I did know that Google has it's own tracking system that is invisible to the users!
One is particularly useful as it lets me block elements of a page I don't want to see on other pages from the same website.
Albeit, Farcebook has found a way around them and will still drop a pop-up on your page when you are on another member website. Which most of the time really messes up what you are working on too. It's also something I've not found a way to block since it is not a direct part of the screen and generated independently of the web page.
I like Ghostery for blocking specific trackers while allowing other valuable trackers we do want. Like remember log-in info, etc.
And AdBlockPro lets me block specific elements on a page, without blocking them on the pages I may want them to appear on.
I got both of those down pat after many years of use, hi hi.
I did know that Google has it's own tracking system that is invisible to the users!
Re: Blacklight
Ad blockers always left me wondering. They come in many flavors, some being more effective than others. The issue I have is that you can block an ad from being rendered on your browser, but they still track the fact that you were visiting the website. They know it's you from the user agent string generated by the browser and sent to the server every time you connect. Cookies can be stopped from being saved on your computer but that does not prevent building the ad profile ID that is associated with your device. Blocked cookies may deny historical references, but the guy who wants to install a cookie in the first place knows who you are and what you are doing at that instant. I guess viewing web pages that are less cluttered is an advantage, but the browsers I use have a reading mode which only shows the text of the content. That effectively blocks all ads from being rendered, plus it's built into the browser.
Microsoft applied for a patent that is a device installed on roadside billboards intended to track the traffic. This device works in a fashion similar to cookies in that it has the ability to identify the advertising ID profile associated with the smartphone inside a car. That's all the patent application says, but one can easily imagine what could be done with that kind of information. You phone, your radio (which is a computer), and the billboard can all send you customized ad messages depending on where you are physically located and which shops happen to be in the area. Amazing stuff is going on out there.
Microsoft applied for a patent that is a device installed on roadside billboards intended to track the traffic. This device works in a fashion similar to cookies in that it has the ability to identify the advertising ID profile associated with the smartphone inside a car. That's all the patent application says, but one can easily imagine what could be done with that kind of information. You phone, your radio (which is a computer), and the billboard can all send you customized ad messages depending on where you are physically located and which shops happen to be in the area. Amazing stuff is going on out there.
Re: Blacklight
If I visit a website, I don't mind them knowing I did, and if I intend to return often, I let them leave the log-in cookies.
But I have most of the ads they might try sending blocked.
On one of my ad blockers, I can see what the cookie contains, what it does, and who owns those cookies as well.
I can block specific cookies are ranges of types of cookies I don't want. Plus allow a cookie from a certain place if need be.
My GPS is too old to have some of the features my wife's newer one has. But she rarely uses it and relies on her Schmartz-Fone instead. Her knew one she can set to show her and/or alert her to let's say all the restaurants in an area. Some of them have ads also that tell what's on today's special menu.
We were out one day to buy a new blower motor, and the place I bought from previously was no longer there.
She pushed some buttons and it showed all the appliance parts stores in the area, and she could define what she was looking for and electric motors was one of the options. It showed three stores all within about 5 miles that had them. She called each one and gave them the part number, two of them had it in stock, and one was about 1/3 less in price than the other, so that is where we went. Been going back their for parts I needed right away ever since.
But I have most of the ads they might try sending blocked.
On one of my ad blockers, I can see what the cookie contains, what it does, and who owns those cookies as well.
I can block specific cookies are ranges of types of cookies I don't want. Plus allow a cookie from a certain place if need be.
My GPS is too old to have some of the features my wife's newer one has. But she rarely uses it and relies on her Schmartz-Fone instead. Her knew one she can set to show her and/or alert her to let's say all the restaurants in an area. Some of them have ads also that tell what's on today's special menu.
We were out one day to buy a new blower motor, and the place I bought from previously was no longer there.
She pushed some buttons and it showed all the appliance parts stores in the area, and she could define what she was looking for and electric motors was one of the options. It showed three stores all within about 5 miles that had them. She called each one and gave them the part number, two of them had it in stock, and one was about 1/3 less in price than the other, so that is where we went. Been going back their for parts I needed right away ever since.
Re: Blacklight
Ads are a necessary evil for those sites which offer free services. Obviously nothing is really free, and the website owners get paid by the advertisers they support. Quite a few sites will deny viewing their content if you run a ad blocker. I find this to be particularly true for news organizations. They will turn off the ads if you subscribe. I can sympathize with them and understand the need for ads. They are nonetheless annoying.
There are two reasons I can think of to block ads. One is to clean up the appearance of the web page you are trying to view. That particular problem has already been addressed by many browsers by offering the text only view mode. In fact that text only view will get past the pay wall about 50% of the time. LOL Some sites go overboard with ad frames that are pinned or displayed over the text I'm trying to read. I can ignore ads when they are in their proper place, but it ticks me off when they try to force them on me while I'm reading.
The second reason to block ads is to keep the advertisers from gathering statistics about my browsing habits. Cookies fall into that category too and deserve to be blocked for that reason. There is no way to prevent the creation of your advertising ID in that just visiting a website is enough to give away who you are, cookies and ads notwithstanding. I don't try to kill my identity because it's actually impossible, but I do like the text only mode for reading serious articles. In that mode it doesn't matter if they feed me targeted ads. I'm not seeing them unless they are embedded links in the text.
If I really cared about my identity, there are fairly simple ways to spoof the browser user string and your MAC address. Hackers do that all the time.
There are two reasons I can think of to block ads. One is to clean up the appearance of the web page you are trying to view. That particular problem has already been addressed by many browsers by offering the text only view mode. In fact that text only view will get past the pay wall about 50% of the time. LOL Some sites go overboard with ad frames that are pinned or displayed over the text I'm trying to read. I can ignore ads when they are in their proper place, but it ticks me off when they try to force them on me while I'm reading.
The second reason to block ads is to keep the advertisers from gathering statistics about my browsing habits. Cookies fall into that category too and deserve to be blocked for that reason. There is no way to prevent the creation of your advertising ID in that just visiting a website is enough to give away who you are, cookies and ads notwithstanding. I don't try to kill my identity because it's actually impossible, but I do like the text only mode for reading serious articles. In that mode it doesn't matter if they feed me targeted ads. I'm not seeing them unless they are embedded links in the text.
If I really cared about my identity, there are fairly simple ways to spoof the browser user string and your MAC address. Hackers do that all the time.
Re: Blacklight
I allow the ads to appear on the main page, because that is where they are supposed to be.
But when you leave that page and go to an article you want to read, or an image you want to see, they have o business partially blocking what you are trying to read or see or do.
So I will block the entire Frame they put up there to show the ads or whatever else they wish to inundate me with.
When I'm playing a game, I don't want half of my screen covered up by their ad boxes so it blocks my tools area.
So those get blocked also. But the one thing I cannot block is the pop-ups which are generated elsewhere and commandeer my screen area, right over the top of the game. I have a couple of things I do where I use a program to perform the functions in order. When one of these pop-ups comes up, it is always right where I am selecting items, and this takes me away from the game and onto a page I have no interest in to start with. Most aggravating, because I have to start all over again from the beginning.
Besides, most of the ads I see on Farcebook are there to download malware if you click on them.
But when you leave that page and go to an article you want to read, or an image you want to see, they have o business partially blocking what you are trying to read or see or do.
So I will block the entire Frame they put up there to show the ads or whatever else they wish to inundate me with.
When I'm playing a game, I don't want half of my screen covered up by their ad boxes so it blocks my tools area.
So those get blocked also. But the one thing I cannot block is the pop-ups which are generated elsewhere and commandeer my screen area, right over the top of the game. I have a couple of things I do where I use a program to perform the functions in order. When one of these pop-ups comes up, it is always right where I am selecting items, and this takes me away from the game and onto a page I have no interest in to start with. Most aggravating, because I have to start all over again from the beginning.
Besides, most of the ads I see on Farcebook are there to download malware if you click on them.
Re: Blacklight
All those smart ads that cover up what you need to see and then redirect you to a page you have no interest in are planned and plotted very carefully. People get college degrees to learn how to do those things. LOL When you view an ad, that generates revenue. If you happen to buy something from that ad, it's even better. Not only does the seller get paid but also the web site owner gets a cut. Seeing those ads is the price one pays for free entertainment. I've never subscribed to the content on a web site and can't say how ad free those environments are. Regardless, the site owner needs to make a living too and you are the one helping him do that.
Facebook was a good idea the first couple years it took up residence on the Internet. Zuckerberg is actually a pretty good businessman when you think about it. It's when he started to do business with the Mafia and took a stand on political issues with his platform that I lost all my respect for that place. They actually make an effort to prevent some types of content from being shown or downloaded, but it would drive them into bankruptcy if they actually were honest about it. I try not to patronize criminals and traitors, but there sure seems to be a lot of them roaming free on the Internet these days.
Facebook was a good idea the first couple years it took up residence on the Internet. Zuckerberg is actually a pretty good businessman when you think about it. It's when he started to do business with the Mafia and took a stand on political issues with his platform that I lost all my respect for that place. They actually make an effort to prevent some types of content from being shown or downloaded, but it would drive them into bankruptcy if they actually were honest about it. I try not to patronize criminals and traitors, but there sure seems to be a lot of them roaming free on the Internet these days.
Re: Blacklight
I was actually a late-comer to Farcebook. I already belonged to a few other social sites.
But it seems my friends, relatives, and family all ended up on Farcebook, so I finally joined.
Farcebook made a major change last month by turning off our Friend Lists on the News Feed.
Since then, they are basically and totally useless to me. I wouldn't even log-in except for my FarmTown game and some promotional companies I help out a bit by liking whatever they post.
I've been invited to others, but after I checked them out, they don't have the features I would have to have to make them worth my trouble to join them. Well, I joined to find out they didn't and never went back, hi hi.
Yep, Billions of Scammers on Social Media!
But it seems my friends, relatives, and family all ended up on Farcebook, so I finally joined.
Farcebook made a major change last month by turning off our Friend Lists on the News Feed.
Since then, they are basically and totally useless to me. I wouldn't even log-in except for my FarmTown game and some promotional companies I help out a bit by liking whatever they post.
I've been invited to others, but after I checked them out, they don't have the features I would have to have to make them worth my trouble to join them. Well, I joined to find out they didn't and never went back, hi hi.
Yep, Billions of Scammers on Social Media!
Re: Blacklight
If it were just scammers on the Internet, I now how to get around them. But, places like Facebook get into psychological warfare and behavior modification. Look at yourself, for example. They found a way to appeal to you enough for you to come back and feed their database every day. I happen to know you are a very intelligent person and would not fall for that kind of thing using your logical mind. But then, you are not the only one. They have a couple BILLLION sheep in their fold.
Re: Blacklight
Well, this is like day 35 of not seeing any of my friends on Farcebook, but yes I still go because it is the only way to get to the game I play. They have turned off our friend lists so we can't see them anymore, they might appear on their opening page news feed, which I don't normally look at.
Re: Blacklight
The last time I logged into Farcebook, it could have been some other website. Nothing about it was the same. Our Fans Of Brainformation group was recognizable, but just barely. A ton of options for the administrator were added. There were so many options, in fact, that it took me several minutes to find out how to make a post in the new format. I recall friends were actually a link that I had to click in order to see them. To be honest I don't recall exactly how that worked. Perhaps there were a few displayed on my news feed. I look at that feed whenever I go there just to remind myself why I decided to abandon them. Well, actually there are other reasons besides the trash on my feeds, but I'm certain I already mentioned them more than once in the past.
Re: Blacklight
I like our Friend Lists because I could go to one and see ONLY those who made a post in the last day, with no advertising.
So I never had to look at the main News Feed, but that is gone now too, you only get the original center news feed which is not in any kind of logical order. And mostly ads anyhow.
So I never had to look at the main News Feed, but that is gone now too, you only get the original center news feed which is not in any kind of logical order. And mostly ads anyhow.