Confused!

Doesn't the Adblock Plus extension make this one redundant?

The wrong approach, fortunately

I know Soghoian means well, but I hope (and expect) his efforts will fail.

The advertisers don't want you to opt out. They will put every obstacle they can in your way, and this will include a mind-bogglingly complex array of cookies that you can't keep track of with any tool. Soghoian is embarking on an arms race he can't win.

The reason I want him to fail, spectacularly and quickly, is because only by demonstrating clearly that there is a problem that can't be solved by opt-out will we ever get the clear opt-in legislation that we really need.

Reg readers can see this is true, but politicians can't without a clear example of failure being put under their nose. Hopefully Soghoian will provide it.

Or maybe the BBC Click phorm-alike ad network will come to our aid with a legally-dubious but ever-so-convincing demo?

opt-in only is what we should have...

But I don't expect it to happen.

There is no advantage to the consumer (better ads? give me a break) so NO ONE will opt in unless tricked or paid to do so. The scumbags that make money selling peoples data will be dead. To stay alive money will flow, deals will be made and opt-out will continue on it's useless way.

I see a time in the not to distant future.....

....when after you have submitted your search query to Googley via a 100MBits fiber optic connection have a flash pop up, or Silver light if Google has the money, acumen and arrogance, featuring an advert related to the LAST search that your neighbor made while pilfering your connection on WiFi..... Only another 125 seconds to go for further ten results of advert infested, cookie directed answers to your query......

Opt me out completely

I made some money off my AdWords. But I cannot condone this kind of marketing. I am closing my account and will start blocking all Google cookies in my browsers. I can avoid using Google, but I will have a difficult time avoiding sites which use its ads until I floss them all out.

Paris, also defying behavioral analysis.

Adblock?

I don't know what this extension does that Adblock Plus does not do better. This extension disables the ad but still allows your information to be sent to the advertiser. The Adblock Plus extension blocks the whole ad.

Also I don't understand all the extreme reactions against all forms of advertising. I run Adblock Plus all the time. Recently I unblocked google Adwords - they are not intrusive and are (sometimes) very helpful.

Ironically the most in-your-face ads are in online newspapers, who should really know better. When was the last time you saw an advertisement sticker over the top of the content?

Rather than opting out...

how about randomly changing the unique number that I presume is stored in the cookie to identify you?

If the number is randomly chosen every 10 minutes (or hell, everytime something tries to read it), then it would make the system useless wouldn't it?

AdBlock+, Flashblock and PeerGuardian lists!

Adblock+ is the best for FF, as the old ad used to say "Kill 99% on contact!". I would say that on average I get maybe 1 in 100 ads getting through, add to that FlashBlock and you have complete control over the crap that these marketers seem to think we actually want. Finally for pure paranoia get the PeerGuardian block list installed on your PC/Firewall! I like my surfing just the way it was back around 1996, clean and uncluttered, easy to navigate, with these great free tools, you can have that!

I despise advertising, it's a sickening blight on our lives, both online and off. When I want your stupid, new supersonic-hydromatic gadget, I'll come looking for you, until then just clear off you parasites!

Re: Adblock Plus

Adblock plus will stop you seeing the targeted adverts, but it won't stop the advertising networks tracking you and making use of the data your behaviour has provided them.

That is why I'll be using the TACO plugin.

For the Perfect Groom ...... A White Knight Charger/Chariot/Driver/Vehicle/Program.

The Dangerous Troubled Waters Google Types are Drowned and Drowning in ........ http://questionablecontent.net/

Goodness knows what's in Paris's head. Everything else is just so normal.

Question

A question for somebody who (A) knows the typcal implementation of such tracking systems and (b) is nice enough to answer!

I have Opera set to refuse cookies from any site unless I tell it otherwise. Obviously, this would stop any "don't track me cookie" from being stored, but wil it also stop the tracking too, or have I shot myself in the foot on this one?

i.e. is the tracking done via cookies in the first place or is the tracking done other means?

Don't stop behavioural ads...really

Let me state that I DO work around the edges of the ad industry, and I can tell you that most users BENEFIT from the best targeted ads possible.

Everyone wants free content and free services - be it YouTube, to CNN.com, to Picassa.

Guess what? That model is AD FUNDED. You get services on the web, or wireless mobile, and you get services/products/content.

How many free services/products/content do you get if there is little or no ad funding? A LOT fewer - you are currently getting a bunch now delivered to your screen that are exploratory at best - i.e., they are their in the HOPE that someone will make money by selling ads on them in the future. But very few of them actually ARE right now - in part because ads on the web and ads on mobile are not well targetted at present, and therefore advertisers pay a lot less for them (not in aggregate, as online advertising is now the #1 medium, but for EACH page impression or clickthrough rates are very, very low).

Eventually, this Web2.0 boondoggle will end, just like Web1.0 boondoggle and all the free sites not making money lost their financing. Whatever services you still have access to will be the ones that can actually MAKE MONEY by selling ads - enough money to make it worthwhile, including profit.

Behavioural targeting can increase the revenue from an ad by up to 50%+ - meaning that there is suddenly a LOT more money around for ad funded content and services. ANd that can lead to an increase in the amout of ad spending online and mobile can get from advertisers, rather than having them spend it on direct email campaigns, magazines, etc - which you get no services in exchange for.

So there is your choice - make targeting opt-in (which almost NO ONE will do if they have to sign up for it), or get ready to start seeing a lot of ad funded stuff dissapear. Some still will in the upcoming rationalization, but a lot fewer if we can claim more revenues from advertisers.

That's simple economics, and anyone who doesn't see that has their eyes closed...

@ Don't stop behavioural ads...really

Would you be good enough to enumerate the 'services' we receive from the likes of Phorm and other deep scanning, data-thieving parasites? Thought not.

I find targeted advertising OFFENSIVE

If I have to see some braindead moron's "creative" piece of garbage about why I should buy some crap or other, I'd rather it be the same garbage that everyone else sees. I don't want moronic drivel served up according to my "tastes", that are ALWAYS misinterpreted by the useless software/formulas/algorithms that they use to "target" their crap. TARGETED ADVERTISING DOESN'T WORK!!!! And the MORONS in MARKETETING are too stupid to realize this. They are so used to buying their own hype, they don't have a clue about the real world.

Paris because she's obviously smarter than anyone in advertising or marketing.

@AC

"TARGETED ADVERTISING DOESN'T WORK!!!! "

The numbers say otherwise, in terms of clickthroughs and purchases. Very strongly so. That's why advertisers are demanding it, and that's why they pay more for it - they don't spend money on a whim, believe it or not. They actually DO get judged by how much money they spend on advertising and marketing, and how sales progress. And there are whole metrics firms dedicated to numerically reporting online ad results, using things like spotlight tags that don't leave much doubt about success or failure of an ad. So your assertion just doesn't hold water, no matter how many times you capitalize it.

"And the MORONS in MARKETETING are too stupid to realize this. They are so used to buying their own hype, they don't have a clue about the real world. Paris because she's obviously smarter than anyone in advertising or marketing."

Except the people developing these systems are NOT in marketing and advertising - rather, they are usually developer geeks or math Phd.s that want to sell their solution to the advertising guys/gals - and it actually has to work to get sold (usually). The founder and CEO of Leiki (used by Double Click and others for contextual advertising) is a very long-haired Finnish guy with a Phd. in Nuclear Physics; the teams at Google much the same type of people. While you might like to justify your antiquated position by claiming you are smarter, I really doubt that you are smarter or a better developer than the people doing this stuff. The employment tests at Google are probably some of the toughtest in the world of IT...all to write what is basically ad software, or ad-supported software designed to lure an audience in to recieve ads...