Tag Archives: OptOut

Pinterest introduces enhanced tracking, offers opt-out option

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DNP Pinterest introduces enhanced tracking, offers optout options for users

From the NSA to Mozilla, it seems like everyone wants to track your online activity (because you're so interesting, of course). Pinterest is the latest to jump on that bandwagon, but the company is keen to assure users that it's completely down with Do Not Track. In a blog post introducing its most recent update, Pinterest spelled out what its latest addition -- the "Edit Home Feed" option -- means for its users' privacy. Basically, you can now tailor your feed to provide you with content related to what you've been pinning. Additionally, Pinterest can track your activity on other sites (so long as they feature a "Pin It" button) to suggest boards based on your interests, though users can easily opt out under their account settings. With public concern over online tracking at an all time high (Thanks, PRISM!), Pinterest evidently didn't want to get caught on the wrong side of the divide.

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Via: The New York Times

Source: Pinterest

Facebook outlines its ad targeting strategy on one handy page, presents a complex privacy picture

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Facebook privacy padlockTo say that Facebook has to tread lightly around privacy issues is an understatement, especially with a targeted ad push underway. Rather than navigate that minefield once more, the social network hopes to skip it entirely by posting an overview of how the ad system tracks habits while retaining our anonymity. For the most part, Facebook walks the fine line carefully. Its Facebook Exchange auction system relies on a unique, untraceable browser ID to target ads to specific people without ever getting their identity; both a mechanism targeting ads beyond Facebook and a Datalogix deal to track the ad conversion rate use anonymous e-mail address hashes that keep advertisers happy without making the addresses readable to prying eyes. The initiative sounds like it's on the right course, although there's caveats at work. Opting out of any Facebook Exchange ads requires tracking down individual ad providers, which isn't likely to result in many of us leaving the ad revenue stream. Likewise, those who'd object even to the completely anonymous ad profiling don't have a say in the matter. With those concerns in mind, it's doubtful there will be many significant objections in the future -- Facebook knows its advertising money train can only keep churning if its members are comfortable enough to come along for the ride.

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Facebook outlines its ad targeting strategy on one handy page, presents a complex privacy picture originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Silk browser on Kindle Fire tracks page visits to generate trends, isn’t as spooky as it sounds (update: opt-out exists)

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Amazon Silk browser on Kindle Fire tracks page visits to generate trends, isn't as spook

When you pick up that new Kindle Fire HD this fall, one of the first things you'll notice is an updated version of Amazon's Silk web browser with a Trending Now section. It's a clever trick that takes advantage of Silk's server-based caching to find out what sites are popular among owners. That sounds good on the surface, but it doesn't take much effort to realize that there are privacy concerns already in the air -- Amazon is sharing personal web habits with a wider audience, after all. While the section is unlikely to include any identifying information, there's no immediate sign that tablet owners can keep their behavior private, and that could create some indignation among those who'd prefer to surf in isolation. We've asked Amazon if there will be an opt-out escape hatch and will let you know if there's a definitive answer. In the meantime, we wouldn't necessarily worry. Silk shouldn't be caching your e-mail, and it's only likely to ever show pages that have far more traffic than anything you'd be embarrassed to show to others. As far as we can tell, your secret knitting obsession should be safe.

Update: A spokesperson has confirmed that the option to disable Silk's caching is still available, and that switching it off will cut you out of Trending Now; that's a very all-or-nothing approach, but it'll likely suit those put off by the browser's predictive approach in the first place. Secure pages are still out of the picture as well, which should keep those private Twitter messages out of the equation.

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Amazon Silk browser on Kindle Fire tracks page visits to generate trends, isn't as spooky as it sounds (update: opt-out exists) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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