How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Creepy New Targeted Ads

Gizmodo ^ | March 9, 2013 | Rainey Reitman

[Defiant]

Facebook has announced that it's teaming up with four of the world's largest corporate data brokers to "enhance" the ad experience for users. Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom, and BlueKai obtain information gathered about users through online means (such as through cookies when users surf the web) as well as through offline means (such as through loyalty cards at supermarkets and product warranty cards). Through the new relationship with Facebook, companies will be able to display advertisements to Facebook users based on data that these data brokers have on individuals.

Here's how to stop them.

[Defiant]

The problem with the opt-outs in this article is that you have to give your name, address and emails to the companies that mine your data. I understand that Facebook has to make money, but the invasion of privacy is becoming too much. There is no option on Facebook to opt out, nor is there an option to pay and avoid being targeted. The end result is, I think, that Facebook will ultimately fail. Teens are going to methods that allow them to communicate directly, like Instagram and SnapChat, and old folks will get more and more turned off by the advertising and interference with their socializing.

[illiac]

Don’t use Facebook....

[MestaMachine]

ZA hasa neat functioncalled ‘Fo Not Tracl” that is like a tiny miracle in theworld of things andstiff. It even tells you who is ATTEMPTING to track you. For FR, it says “Clear skies! No tracking found here.”

“118 Companies blocked from tracking you since install
We’ve blocked them tracking your browsing habits 6,296 times.”
And it names them:
[x+1] .Adap.TV .Adblade .AddThis .AddToAny .AdMeld .AdNexus .Adroll .AdTech .Advertising.com .Aperture .Baynote .Bing .BlueKai .BlueLithium .Brilig .Casale Media .ChartBeat .Chitika .Clickability .Clicktale .Clicky .CNET Tracking .Collective Media .Comscore Beacon .ContextWeb .CoreMetrics .CrazyEgg .Criteo .CrowdScience .Demandbase .Demdex .Disqus .Doubleclick .Effective Measure .Ensighten .Evidon .eXelate .Exponential .FreeWheel .Gigya .Gomez .Google +1 .Google Adsense .Google Adwords Conversion .Gravatar .Gravity .Hellobar .InfoLinks .InsightExpress .InterClick .Invite Media .iPerceptions .Kiss Metrics .Krux Digital .LinkedIn .Lotame .Marin Software .MarketGID .Media Innovation Group .Media6 Degrees .MediaMath .MediaMind .MediaPlex .Meebo .Microsoft Atlas .MSN Ads .NDN .Netratings Site Census .New Relic .NewsRight .NextAction .Omniture .OpenAds .OpenX .Optimizely .OutBrain .Parse.ly .PO.ST .PointRoll .Pubmatic .Quantcast .Quigo Adsonar .RadiumOne .RapLeaf .Real Media .Revenue Science .RightMedia .Rubicon Project .SafeCount .Salesforce .ShareThis .SiteMeter .SiteScout .SkimLinks .SpecificClick .StatCounter .Taboola .Tacoda .TARGUSinfo AdAdvisor .Test and Target .Torbit Insight .Turn .Twitter Badge .Tynt Tracer .Typekit .Undertone Networks .ValueClick .Vibrant Ads .VigLink .VisualRevenue .Vizu .Webtrends .Wordpress Stats .WorldNow .Yadro .Yahoo Web Analytics .Zedo .. .

[Viennacon]

I don’t. Call me old, but I think ‘social media’ like Facebook, Myspace etc. are a fad that will end up hurting a lot of the people involved. Future employment checking out what you’ve written, companies building profiles of you for targeted advertising spam, etc. I can always rely on FreeRepublic however.

[MestaMachine]

Let’s try this again...WOW!
ZA has a neat function called “Do Not Track” that is like a tiny miracle in the world of things and stuff.
(That’s a little more comprehensible...I hope.)

[upchuck]

BUMP!

Facebook is evil. This is just another example.

[deoetdoctrinae]

LOL. I was beginning to wonder about you! Do you have a link to them, or their web address? Would love to check it out. Thanks.

[AZLiberty]

Yesterday, in the right column of my Facebook, there was a little ad-like thing that said (not real name), "Xxx Yyy used Walgreens", with a little Walgreens logo. The real person signified by "Xxx Yyy" is the brother of a colleague/friend of mine.

So, with no work on either his or my part, I learned that he had recently visited Walgreens drug store. Clearly he needs to update his privacy settings, but this is creepy.

[Fast Moving Angel]

I’m on FB but when I get one of those ads, I just report it as spam and I know many others who do the same. Sorry for the legitimate advertisers, sort of, but if they don’t want to be reported as spam, then maybe they should take it up with FB.

[upchuck]

Firefox has an add-on called TrackerChoice PrivacyBlock that does an excellent job of foiling the trackers.

We need all the help we can get. This is a war.

[Last Dakotan]

I figured you were drunk.

[RIghtwardHo]

Even at my age I like to think I am tech savvy. I Tweet, etc. But I don’t think they could pay me enough to use Facebook.

[Defiant]

I knew we would get posts that say that. Didn’t take long.

[Tax-chick]

I always know when I’m getting targeted ads because they’ll be in Spanish. That means they’ve followed my Google activity and found I was searching for music for my Spanish choir.

It resets to “neutral” if I clear all cookies, but then I have to log back into everything like FR and Weight Watchers.

[Defiant]

There are a lot of good ways to use Facebook, and a lot of good connections that are maintained through it that previously you did not have the ability to keep. However, it is clear that the people that run it have no respect for privacy interests, and they are looking to monetize their creation in any way they can. I understand your sentiment, but for now, I am enjoying most aspects of Facebook, while being very careful what I put there and what can be seen by the public. At some point, it may become not worth the constant battle with Facebook’s settings. Opinions may vary on that, but I never put anything on there that I wouldn’t want to be revealed to the world in the likely event that Facebook screws all of us at some point. The problem is, most people using Facebook don’t guard their privacy, and don’t know what Facebook is doing with their data as they willy-nilly post their most minute details.

[leapfrog0202]

Bttt

[TomGuy]

Abine has a program/add-on that works with Firefox and IE browsers — Do Not Track.

I have been using it for several months. It works in the background to block many of the common tracking sites.

http://abine.com/products.php

[MestaMachine]

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-extreme-security.htm

I got mine on special for $29.95. Been using ZA for years.

[Defiant]

That’s a good idea.

[Defiant]