Ghostery blocks the privacy-violators
 

There's been a lot in the news of late about Facebook, Google and others detecting and keeping a record of every site we visit, and other privacy violations. I'm concerned too.

So I installed Ghostery as an addon to Firefox.

It's Great! I used to be annoyed by Facebook, Twitter and other pop-ups that popped up when I innocently moved the cursor across a badge. But Ghostery must block those, because It's not happening any more.

I understand that it can interfere with how some sites operate, like Ancestry.com, but you can whitelist those sites. I haven't encountered any problems yet, and I block everything in their list.

Ghostery reports that it's blocking two trackers on this LinuxQuestions page: Google Analytics and OpenX. The most I've seen on any one page so far was on this article, with 16 trackers, beacons, etc. blocked. I like it!

It would be interesting to know if anyone finds a site with more than 16.

If you feel that these don't belong on LQ, then you should start a thread on Suggestions & Feedback to request their removal.

Sorry, I didn't mean that as a complaint against LinuxQuestions. The little icon was right there for me to see as I typed, so I mentioned it. Almost every website I visit has at least two. In fact it's almost a compliment, because so many sites have so many.

But regardless of what this site or other sites or other users do, I intend to use this great new tool I've found to block trackers and annoyers.

Interesting add-on, I will look into it.

Rather than using Ghostery, which I have had issues with in the past.
in Chrome I use:
Chrome Web Store - Do Not Track Plus : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...gadpkobaefekcd

Also Chrome Web Store - KB SSL Enforcer : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...ianiofphddckof
Along with Keep my opt-outs, Flashcontrol and AdblockPlus (Easylist+EasyPrivacy)

Firefox
PrivacySuite :: Add-ons for Firefox : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir.../privacysuite/
Along with HTTPS Everywhere, NoScript, AdBlockPlus (Easylist+EasyPrivacy)

What kind of problems ?

I refuse to use Chrome or anything Google. They are all about tracking.

I've been using AdBlock or AdBlockPlus for years also. Excellent. Couldn't stand to surf without it.

The PrivacySuite site says it will "Block web trackers and web bugs" and "Block social buttons created by Facebook, Google, and others". That's a big part of what Ghostery does. But I didn't see any place on the PrivacySuite site that says how many trackers, bugs, beacons, etc. that it knows about.

Ghostery doesn't say it on their site but once installed, the options page says it blocks 795 individually-selectable third party elements (3pes) which includes 168 trackers and 201 analytics. And that includes some they've added since I installed it, so the battle continues.

--o--

On a different note however, PrivacySuite and Ghostery are both authored by companies that are in the online-privacy business. So I guess they give away something free to show how good they are and therefore get business. That's cool.

But it concerns me a little that I've installed third-party software with could have direct access to my online financial transactions via the chrome interface it accesses, from a company I know little of and whose only motive to protect me is to protect their own name.

How it works : http://www.donottrackplus.com/howitworks.php

TACO Opt-out : http://www.abine.com/preview/taco.php has a chart showing what several privacy apps do, including Ghostery.

That table is misleading. Ghostery doesn't share your data with other by default.

Most of the things in the table can be done by Firefox itself.

From what I see TACO is a form of malware.

You can always just use a hosts file and disable third party cookies.
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt

Does pretty much the same things as most of the privacy add-ons.

It does, but I don't think that is what it was designed to do. If the other ways disappear, including privoxy, I would consider hosts.txt, otherwise no.

Here's an article with 17 trackers that Ghostery blocked. That's a new record for me in my surfing.

We've had this hosts file-vs-more efficient methods discussion before, see for instance http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9/#post3585760 and http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...1/#post4475534. Why on earth people cling to and keep promoting such crude and inefficient kludges I don't understand...

A new record!
Here's an article with 19 trackers that Ghostery blocked.