March 29 2011
Who is collecting and mining advertising data about our likes, dislikes, birthday, address, gender, race, device we own, what we are looking to buy, our politics and so much more? We trust that if something bad were to happen, we would hear the screams of others and then pay attention.
Most of us use the Internet with a bit of suppressed concern about privacy. We know there is something going on in the background, but don’t have the time or will to investigate it. Who is collecting and mining advertising data about our likes, dislikes, birthday, address, gender, race, device we own, what we are looking to buy, our politics and so much more? We trust that if something bad were to happen, we would hear the screams of others and then pay attention.
The experts at Telivant have found a cool free tool that helps to shed light on this largely unknown aspect of daily life on the Internet. Giving you some control about who is silently collecting information about you.
Introducing Ghostery.com. According to their FAQ: What is Ghostery? Ghostery is a browser tool available for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer. It scans the page for scripts, pixels, and other elements and notifies the user of the companies whose code is present on the page. These page elements aren’t otherwise visible to the user, and often not detailed in the page source code. Ghostery allows users to learn more about these companies and their practices, and block the page elements from loading if the user chooses.
Ghostery is available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer browsers and the installation is free and uncomplicated. The app places an icon on your browser’s menu bar that watches every page you visit, shows you who is collecting data and you can set to block 275 data collectors.
Check it out. I suppose there is no huge reason to address this issue immediately, but if companies are going to collect information about me, I want to know who they are and their intentions. I am now blocking everyone I can.
Another helpful technology tip from Telivant.com.
Editor's note: We checked this tool out and once you download it, it automatically can be viewed in the bottom right corner of your browser window. Now, viewable on any website you visit, you will be able to see how many "trackers" each site has.
Don't be alarmed by all trackers, for example, most content and lead generation sites will have Google Analytics tracking how many leads visit their website. These are not nefarious websites, but it is important to watch for any alarming trackers and block them if need be.
Learn more about Telivant.