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You have very little choice to avoid Google Analytics (or one of a handful of other major analytics companies). Almost every site on the internet uses it. None

by lambda 13y ago

You have very little choice to avoid Google Analytics (or one of a handful of other major analytics companies). Almost every site on the internet uses it. None of them reveal in an obvious way if they do, or give you any choice (or they just pop up a generic "we use cookies, if you continue using this site you agree"). Or beyond that, there's all the sharing buttons, Google Web Fonts, hosted JavaScript libraries, and the like. If I wanted to prevent Google from being able to track me at all, I would have to avoid the vast majority of the web. You can apply more and more extensions and filter rules to block this sort of thing. I have a variety enabled; they make it a quite a pain to surf the web, as they wind up breaking a variety of sites by blocking a little too much, and I have to sit there and selectively disable them until I find what allows the site to work. So, effectively, you cannot opt out of corporate tracking either. If you want to, just like avoiding government surveillance, your best bet is to just disconnect from the net entirely.

pavs 13y ago
>You have very little choice to avoid Google Analytics. https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout Its been around for a looooong time.
daurnimator 13y ago
Using ghostery or similar browser plugins covers 90% of the use cases you describe. I dislike that you get forced to use it to opt-out, but there is little other choice.
quesera 13y ago
I use multiple Firefox profiles. Primary has all the privacy-enhancing extensions turned on and tuned, so random browsing will not accrue to me. When I hit a wall (rarely) and after consideration, decide that I really want to bypass it (even more rare), I create a new profile, do the dirty deed, and then destroy the profile. Chrome profiles are leaky in confidence-damping ways, and the options for privacy extensions are fewer. Use Firefox.
ekianjo 13y ago
I disagree, there are many extensions that can protect you from these tracking practices, ghostery among others. And I know some people who run NoScript to avoid loading any Javascript by default, and only authorize certain specific ones. There are easy ways you can protect yourself with a minimum of knowledge. > If you want to, just like avoiding government surveillance, your best bet is to just disconnect from the net entirely. You can't disconnect from government surveillance, in case you did not get my point earlier. They track your phone calls even if you don't use the net. They have cameras in streets, airports, they can track your spending via credit cards, they can check where you are by locating your mobile phone position, but no company alone can do the exact same thing. The balance of power is clearly in favor of the government for surveillance, and the massive budget of the NSA is a simple proof that they are not kidding.

by lambda 13y ago

pavs 13y ago

>You have very little choice to avoid Google Analytics. https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout Its been around for a looooong time.

daurnimator 13y ago

Using ghostery or similar browser plugins covers 90% of the use cases you describe. I dislike that you get forced to use it to opt-out, but there is little other choice.

quesera 13y ago

I use multiple Firefox profiles. Primary has all the privacy-enhancing extensions turned on and tuned, so random browsing will not accrue to me. When I hit a wall (rarely) and after consideration, decide that I really want to bypass it (even more rare), I create a new profile, do the dirty deed, and then destroy the profile. Chrome profiles are leaky in confidence-damping ways, and the options for privacy extensions are fewer. Use Firefox.

ekianjo 13y ago

I disagree, there are many extensions that can protect you from these tracking practices, ghostery among others. And I know some people who run NoScript to avoid loading any Javascript by default, and only authorize certain specific ones. There are easy ways you can protect yourself with a minimum of knowledge. > If you want to, just like avoiding government surveillance, your best bet is to just disconnect from the net entirely. You can't disconnect from government surveillance, in case you did not get my point earlier. They track your phone calls even if you don't use the net. They have cameras in streets, airports, they can track your spending via credit cards, they can check where you are by locating your mobile phone position, but no company alone can do the exact same thing. The balance of power is clearly in favor of the government for surveillance, and the massive budget of the NSA is a simple proof that they are not kidding.