Q: I Googled two items for sale which I was thinking of buying, and now, after two weeks, they are still displayed at the top of my screen, and I don’t know how to get rid of them. Please don’t tell me that I have to pay $69 for software to get rid of this adware!
By the way, not that it makes any difference, it could have been for any product, but they were ads for a new phone from Office Depot/Office Max. I was also looking for some shoes and up came an ad from Shoebuy. — RCAllen, Denver
Tech+: Sounds like you’re the victim of targeted advertising. In an ideal world, targeted ads would show us the exact product we want to buy right now. In reality though, it seems like it’s all a big guessing game and products you searched for and don’t necessarily want come back to pester you to buy them. It’s as if someone is following you around the internet.
That’s because you are being followed. Remember cookies — the little bits of computer code stored by web browsers? According to a blocker tool I use called Blur (from online privacy firm Abine.com), Office Depot’s site uses five services to track users, including RichRelevance, which provides personalized recommendations based on your searches, and BrighTag (now called Signal), which connects a user’s online and offline data on various devices.
There’s a trade-off between privacy invasion and getting excellent suggestions — except, sometimes, the suggestions are far from excellent. I like the idea that I’ll get an idea for the perfect gift to buy my mother-in-law. (I don’t even know that!) But I recall an advertising-tech executive telling me he wondered where the ads for six-seat vehicles were when he and his wife — who already had two children — were expecting twins. (That sort of ad might have been helpful.)
As a tech reporter, I understand there is value in the data companies collect via tracking customers. Heck, The Denver Post has 13 trackers on its site! Ultimately, that helps the news organization make money so it can support writers like me who answer your questions.
Interest-based targeted ads, however, are different from targeted ads based on content. For example, a smart advertiser might pitch tech solutions to all Tech+ readers (hint, hint). Interest-based ads will show you shoes from Shoebuy days after you visited the site.
As a consumer, I haven’t seen evidence that interest-based targeted ads work. Often, I don’t even know what I want — so will a machine know better?
You may feel strongly one way or the other. But if targeted ads aren’t working for you, turn them off.
Turn off ad-tracking in internet browsers:
- Google: Opt out or tweak personal settings at google.com/settings/ads/authenticated.
- FireFox: Opt out of ads by turning on Do Not Track: mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/dnt.
- Microsoft Edge/Explorer: Opt out or tweak personalized settings at choice.microsoft.com.
- Tor browser: This open-source browser has privacy built in and prevents others from learning your location or browsing habits: torproject.org.
- Apple products: Opt out of targeted ads on Apple devices at support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074.
More tools to opt out of targeted advertisements:
- AdChoices: The Digital Advertising Alliance is a group of advertisers offering a list of interest-based ad trackers to opt out of interest-based ads. You’ll still get ads, but they shouldn’t be based on past searches. The control panel is at aboutads.info/choices.
- Web tools like Abine’s Blur — at dnt.abine.com — have a browser tool to inform users of websites with ad trackers. Internet tech site Tom’s Guide offers a roundup at dpo.st/tomsadblockers.
- Sites like Facebook and Amazon have their own way to target you, so turning ad-targeting off won’t impact these sites. But both offer ways to turn off targeting when you’re not on their sites: amazon.com/adprefs, facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads.
- If online privacy is important to you, the Electronic Freedom Frontier tracks the topic and even offers an easy way to tell your local politician to protect consumer privacy rights at dpo.st/effprivacy.
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