Disable ad personalization settings.
You're letting companies build rich behavioral profiles.
#AdTracking #SurveillanceCapitalism #BehavioralData
#AdTracking
⛔ Facebook to stop targeting ads at UK woman after legal fight
—@BBCNews
｢ She said the adverts she got "suddenly started changing within weeks to lots of baby photos and other things - ads about babies and pregnancy and motherhood".
"I just found it unnerving - this was before I'd even told people in my private life, and yet Facebook had already determined that I was pregnant," she continued ｣
Another day, another attempt by Microsoft to extract as much revenue as possible from Office users:
"Microsoft has quietly launched a new version of Microsoft Office for Windows that can be used to edit documents for free, no Microsoft 365 subscription or Office license key required. This free version of Office is based on the full desktop apps, but has most features locked behind the Microsoft 365 subscription.
First spotted by Beebom, the free version of Office for Windows includes ads that are permanently on screen when within a document in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Additionally, this new free version of Office also only allows you to save files to OneDrive, meaning no support for editing local files.
To access the free version of Office, just skip the prompt to sign-in when you first run an Office app. From there, you will be given the choice to continue to use Office for free in exchange for ads and limited features. In this mode, you can open, view, and even edit documents, just like you can with the web version of Office."
#Microsoft #AdTech #Advertising #Surveillance #AdTargeting #AdTracking #MSOffice
"Tracking and profiling for advertising purposes present significant risks to consumers and society. This is demonstrated by a report commissioned by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv). The advertising industry’s practice of categorising and influencing individuals based on their preferences, behaviours and vulnerabilities leads to manipulation, discrimination and a loss of trust. vzbv calls on the European Commission to ban tracking and profiling for advertising purposes and ensure the protection of digital fundamental rights.
“Every click on the internet is tracked because it supposedly reveals something about us: our preferences, desires and interests. The uncontrolled data collection by the advertising industry poses great risks to consumers and society,” says Michaela Schröder, Head of Consumer Policy at vzbv. “Consumers are powerless against the practices of the advertising industry. Existing laws are not sufficient. A ban on tracking and profiling is the only way to ensure meaningful consumer protection,” Schröder states."
https://www.vzbv.de/en/personalised-advertising-overdue-regulation
#EU #ConsumersRights #AdTech #Surveillance #TargetedAds #DataBrokers #AdTracking #DataProtection
The US needs a national privacy law now!
https://www.wired.com/story/google-dv360-banned-audience-segments-national-security/
🚀 New Pi-hole, enjoy.
｢ The much-anticipated Pi-hole 6, a network-wide ad blocker that acts as a DNS sinkhole to block advertisements, trackers, and malicious domains at the network level, has been officially released, now featuring an embedded web server and a new REST API directly integrated into the pihole-FTL binary ｣
https://linuxiac.com/pi-hole-6-is-here-now-faster-smarter-and-more-secure/
Browser-Wechsel? Mozilla hat letztes Jahr ein Feature (PPA API) eingeführt, das Ad-Tracker ermöglicht. --> https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2024/07/14/mozilla-disappoints-us-yet-again-2/#uselessness
Welchen Browser verwendet ihr?
Google Chrome: Der Browser im Datenschutz-Check
Wer im Internet surft, kommt an Google nicht vorbei. Das gilt aber natürlich nicht nur für die allseits bekannte Suchmaschine, sondern auch für den Browser von Google. Doch wie steht es hier eigentlich um den Datenschutz? Und welche (datenschutzfreundlichen) Alternativen gibt es? Wir haben Google Chrome in diesem Beitrag einmal auf Herz und Nieren geprüft. […]https://www.dr-datenschutz.de/google-chrome-der-browser-im-datenschutz-check/
ICYMI: Ad Creative ID Framework gains support from major ad registries https://ppc.land/ad-creative-id-framework-gains-support-from-major-ad-registries/ #AdCreativeID #IAB #AdTracking #DigitalMarketing #Advertising
ICYMI: Ad Creative ID Framework gains support from major ad registries: IAB's unified ad tracking system sees adoption from key industry players across Europe and United States. https://ppc.land/ad-creative-id-framework-gains-support-from-major-ad-registries/ #AdCreativeID #IAB #AdTracking #DigitalMarketing #Advertising
Ad Creative ID Framework gains support from major ad registries https://ppc.land/ad-creative-id-framework-gains-support-from-major-ad-registries/ #AdTech #DigitalMarketing #Advertising #IAB #AdTracking
Ad Creative ID Framework gains support from major ad registries: IAB's unified ad tracking system sees adoption from key industry players across Europe and United States. https://ppc.land/ad-creative-id-framework-gains-support-from-major-ad-registries/ #AdTech #DigitalMarketing #Advertising #IAB #AdTracking
Is your phone listening – or is it IP based Ad Tracking?
In my recent blog post about reducing Ad-Tracking by using Firewall rules, I already mentioned that I might dig a bit deeper into the topic of IP-based AD-tracking.
[…]
https://www.locked.de/is-your-phone-listening-or-is-it-ip-based-ad-tracking/
#AdTech #AdTracking #advertising #Cookies #IPTracking #Privacy
Apple wants as much of your data as it can get too
Unsurprisingly Apple gets as much of your data as it can. Apple fans dunk on Microsoft for ads and tracking, but Apple isn’t any better with it’s service upsell’s in system and all the tracking it does.
But “Apple is a better company”…so that makes it okay? Except for the fealty payments to an insurrectionist.
But the price is worth it? Not convinced that the upgrades are worth it at all as the operating system is no longer “cleaner”.
I admit that I’ve looked for a Linux based tablet and nothing beats the iPad. Their laptops are amazing even if overpriced.
But Apple is no different than any other company. They’re in it to make money and that takes your data, fealty payments, and the markups they can convince their customers to pay.
Apple wants as much of your data as it can get too
Unsurprisingly Apple gets as much of your data as it can. Apple fans dunk on Microsoft for ads and tracking, but Apple isn't any better with it's service upsell's in system and all the tracking it does.
But "Apple is a better company"...so that makes it okay? Except for the fealty payments to an insurre
https://curtismchale.ca/2025/01/15/apple-wants-as-much-of-your-data-as-it-can-get-too/
#LinksOfInterest #AdTracking #Apple #DataTheft
How to reduce AdTracking with Fritz!Box filter lists for mobile devices
Problem: I am using Pi-Hole on my network to block quite a few ADs and trackers. However, the blocking does not work reliably on Android devices on our WiFi (This thread suggests that this also concerns Apple devices – but we don’t have any at home, though).
I noticed this when I was researching some cycling products and my wife suddenly started getting cycling ADs in her Facebook stream on her tablet. We don’t share devices or accounts or anything – but we do share the same network and therefore the IP of our router.
At first I was confused because my wife was only getting the ads when I searched on my mobile – not the days before when I did the same on my PC. Then I noticed the coincidence of the switch from PC to mobile. That was the first time I really became aware of IP usage for ad tracking. (I’ll probably write another post about this – it would go off topic too much here)
Cause: Android devices do not (necessarily) use the DNS server in the home network, but connect to Google DNS. So, the tracking requests aren’t blocked by Pi-Hole.
Changing the DNS on Android can be possible (depending on the vendor!), but it’s just not meant to be done easily. And I simply did not want to fiddle around in the client settings. A proper network side solution was needed.
Solution: Well, I had to block the requests at the router. Either by rerouting all traffic through a RaspberryPi with something like Privoxy installed, or by using the filter lists in my FRITZ!box router.
- Privoxy would definitely be the more elaborate solution! But it is also more complex and requires more configuration for the routing.
- The filter list on the FRITZ!Box on the other hand is really simple. But it is just a static list, the list can only use the first 500 entries and there is no logging.
For a first step, I was just too lazy to configure routing and Privoxy, so I used the FRITZ!Box Filter list: To get the top 500 hosts to block, I didn’t want to rely on any arbitrary list from the internet but to use something that respected our home usage.
As we have been Pi-Hole running for quite a while, I extracted the top 500 most blocked hostnames from the Pi-Hole logfiles and entered them into the filter list:
sudo zgrep "gravity blocked" /var/log/pihole/pihole.log* \| awk '{print $7}' \| sort | uniq -c | sort -rn \| head -n 500 \| awk '{print $2}' The advantage is that it’s a dynamic source (with the manual update step), tailored to our surfing habits, the 500 limit is not an issue in our case and it’s just super easy. Let’s see if it stands the test of time …
Issues?
One week later I’m still mostly happy with this solution. Yet, at some rare times, the Fritz!Box seems to overreact and block hosts that are not on the list. I wasn’t able to identify a pattern yet but I’ll keep an eye on it.
#AdBlock #AdBlocking #AdTracking #Android #FRITZ #FRITZBox #PiHole #Privacy
#UK data regulator criticises #Google for ‘irresponsible’ #adtracking change
#ICO says allowing #advertisers to track digital ‘fingerprints’ will undermine #consumers’ control over information
Google Analytics adds manual ad content support to custom channel groups analysis: Google Analytics enhances custom channel group analysis by adding manual ad content parameter support for improved traffic tracking. https://ppc.land/google-analytics-adds-manual-ad-content-support-to-custom-channel-groups-analysis/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #GoogleAnalytics #DigitalMarketing #AdTracking #MarketingAnalytics #PPC
"While I once hoped 2017 would be the year of privacy, 2024 closes on a troubling note, a likely decrease in privacy standards across the web. I was surprised by the recent Information Commissioner’s Office post, which criticized Google’s decision to introduce device fingerprinting for advertising purposes from February 2025. According to ICO, this change risks undermining user control and transparency in how personal data is collected and used. Could this mark the end of nearly a decade of progress in internet and web privacy? It would be unfortunate if the newly developing AI economy started from a decrease of privacy and data protection standards. Some analysts or observers might then be inclined to wonder whether this approach to privacy online might signal similar attitudes in other future Google products, like AI.
I can confidently raise this question, having observed and analyzed this area for over 15 years from various perspectives. My background includes experience in web browser security and privacy, including in standardization. I served in the W3C Technical Architecture Group, and have authored scientific papers on privacy, tracking, and fingerprinting, as well as assessments of technologies like Web APIs. This includes the Privacy Sandbox’s Protected Audience API. I was looking forward to the architectural improvements of web privacy. In other words, I am deeply familiar with this context. The media so far have done a great job bringing attention to the issue, but they frame this development as a controversy between Google’s policy change and the UK ICO’s concerns. I believe that the general public and experts alike would benefit from a broader perspective."
"The UK’s data protection regulator has criticised Google over its decision to allow advertisers to use technology to track users which is harder to control or block.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said Google’s decision was “irresponsible” and accused the company of a U-turn, having previously prohibited the use of so-called fingerprinting technology.
Fingerprinting involves collecting pieces of information about a device’s software and hardware which can be combined to uniquely identify a device and its user – and the ICO has warned that this technology is harder to wipe than clearing cookies or site data from a web browser, meaning users could continue to be identified by advertisers."
#UK #ICO #Google #AdTracking #FingerPrinting #DataProtection #Privacy
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