I recently switched from Chrome to Firefox, and it’s been interesting. One of the interesting things was I am being alerted of a Google tracker on BLF, even with AdBlock Plus set to full power, and me using the link “http://budgetlightforum.com/recent-posts_not-commercial”. I went looking for a BLF privacy policy, and see that SB created it just this May. I’m wondering if the Google Tracker was added in May?
Can it be removed from the “not-commercial” page and/or threads?
The privacy policy has very few views (569) since being posted on May 25th 2018.
How many users were actually aware of this tracker before reading this thread?
1.
Just to be clear, the Google “Tracker” is not something that I explicitly added with the intention of having a tracker. It’s simply the standard engine that Google uses to serve personalized ads via their Adsense program, which has been running on BLF since day one over 8 years ago. (I believe that it might also be necessary for the Google site search engine that we use here too, but I’m not sure.) I would also like to make very clear the fact that I as administrator of BLF have NO ACCESS to whatever information Google tracks. It is used by Google for their automated algorithms, and technically not even any humans at Google should ever see your data. The scripts originate from and communicate with Google’s servers, not BLF’s server. I don’t want this thread to get into the hotly debated topic of online privacy and corporate data mining. But please understand that BLF runs the exact same Google mechanisms that millions of other websites running Google Adsense must use, and therefore is not at all unique in this sense.
But to answer your question, this is nothing new for BLF. The Privacy Policy that was added in May is simply there to comply with European regulations, which may or may not apply to BLF, but at any rate I added the terms just to be on the safe side.
2.
As for the second part, could you please explain the reason why you would like it to be removed from the non-commercial topic listing and/or threads?
Joshk, you can also add a rule to your adblocker to block the googlesyndication domain. It is blocked by default in uMatrix so I am surprised that it Adblock lets it through.
uMatrix also gives you finer grained controls. For example if you want to support SB but not give information to google you can allow the googlesyndication javascript but forbid their cookies. Then the ad network treats you like a blank slate for every visit.
I frequently get PMs from users asking where the search box is. Since it’s a Google custom site search engine, it appears to be blocked by the default rulesets that most ad blockers use. I don’t know exactly why, if it’s just because of some Google syndication domain it uses, or what it might be. But it’s not designed that way by me to force users to disable their ad blockers. We used to have a local site search engine running on the BLF server, but it was woefully inadequate and used massive amounts of server resources to produce mediocre results at best. So I eventually disabled it completely and left only the Google CSE.
On the subject of the forum search - I don’t seem to understand exactly how to use it. For example, if I want to search the BLF forum for discussions of “Cometa”, and I enter this term in the search box, it returns hits from all over the Internet, as if I were not even logged in here and had used a standard search engine. How can I restrict it to only searching the BLF forums, or a particular sub-forum? And can I restrict it to titles only?
SB,
1a) If you have “no access” to the data being taken by Google, then the privacy policy is incorrect to say it is “shared”.
1b) And it’s certainly not the humans that concern me, we all know there is too much data going to Google for the employees to be reading it I simply don’t want to be “targeted” for temptation. I will spend my money where and when I choose, and businesses trying to manipulate my buying habits upsets me.
2) For ‘why’ I don’t want it, see the last paragraph (aka 1b).
I hadn’t heard of it, but gave it a try on your recommendation. I tested Amazon.com, YouTube, and my email with it running. All 3 sites were rendered entirely un-usable with the default settings. The documentation include a link to instructions on how to switch it from “block-all” by default, but the link is broken. I have spent a few hours trying to get the 3 sites I mentioned working with only allowing a little more access, but it is a very advanced tool, with hundreds of toggle switches for just one site. I will try to keep it running, but it’s a huge time-suck for me. Thanks for the recommendation though!
That's a fair point. I updated that part of the Privacy Policy to:
Also understandable. In your case I think that the best solution would be to use an ad blocker and/or "Don't track me" extension or browser feature globally for all websites, since as I mentioned most sites that you'll run across have the same or similar automated algorithms.
Honestly why be concerned about google tracking some search results when your ISP takes 100x more data about everything you do…
This is like trying to keep your umbrella dry in the rain.
Enderman, It’s not accurate to think of Google as a search engine anymore. Times have changed, they are now a “consumer profile liaison” by all measures.
Just like every other piece of software your use, your operating system, your ISP, etc etc etc
You already have a profile in hundreds of different places whether you use google or not.
If you think using duck duck go and disabling a tracker is making any difference then that’s called a placebo effect.
It seems you have given up. I haven’t.
I use a vpn to keep my ISP from selling my data. That vpn also makes region-based profiling impossible for websites and the trackers they contain. And I certainly don’t fill out optional profile info on any site. And I choose my sites carefully. I don’t use Google’s DNS services. And I have also gone deep into my Windows settings and disabled everything possible.
I also operate a server that runs my web services like file-sync and email hosting.
And I don’t even do ANYTHING wrong online. I don’t download illegal content, I don’t look at questionable content, I don’t troll, I don’t hack, etc. I simply want to opt-out of tomorrow’s headline data breach and not be harassed by targeted ads.
And taking the time to start a thread like this helps show the world how important these issues are to me.
A VPN simply makes it so that the ISP on the other end collects the data.
Unless you have an encrypted end to end connection to a private server it is impossible to hide.
This is because your encrypted VPN connection needs to be decrypted at the other end otherwise it would be impossible to access any regular website.
Regardless of what you turn off in windows it will still send system metadata and usage statistics.
If you actually cared about security you would unplug your ethernet cable and not use a cell phone or ISP.
There are people who actually do this because it’s the only way, and isn’t just a false sense of security.
The government and health services and police already have basically all of your personal data so if their badly secured servers get breached it literally won’t matter how much encryption you used to hide your duckduckgo searches.
I do have an encrypted end-to-end connection on my private server. And your point is valid for un-encrypted sites like BLF, that’s why a few threads have popped up requesting encryption for this site.
I don’t want the extreme case of becoming a ghost. That’s silly and unnecessary. I just want limits.
I don’t care the government and health services have my personal info. They should. I’m a friendly law-abiding citizen so nobody is or will be hunting me personally. I just believe in limits.
I simply don’t want to be “targeted” for temptation. I will spend my money where and when I choose, and businesses trying to manipulate my buying habits upsets me.
