If the idea of marketeers peering at your online activities is creepy, here are a few things you can do:
- Opt out of data mining from advertising networks, such as networkadvertising.org ( the select all button is conveniently broken) and aboutads.info.
- Check what they know about you through privacychoice.org.
I've noticed, however, that what Google lists there is different from what it lists in its own Privacy Tools.
- Change what Google tracks about you in the Privacy Tools.
- Change your Facebook settings to seal what you share tight.
Marketeers scrape whatever information is public about you. Quite often, Facebook introduces new settings and selects the most open option for you, so you should check news about new features. They're frequently hidden and easy to miss, even though they have huge privacy implications. Watch for settings that let your friends share information about you (like tagging you in pictures or letting third-party apps suck in your information when they play another stupid game or use a worthless app).
- Set the privacy option of your browsers.
Chrome and Firefox allow you to request that companies not mine your data. Note that it's just a request. Companies don't have to respect your expressed wishes, but ethical companies will.
- Ghostery.com lets you download a tool that lets you see what data companies know about you.
It has been featured by a few news organization, but we haven't tested it nor investigated it. Download at your own risk.
- Pay a monthly fee for reputation.com to keep trackers off your browser.
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