Members philbo Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 Anybody else seeing a floating button in their browser that says "Google Analytics" or "Google AdSense" or similar? It was driving me nuts for a while (not a long trip for me). I finally found a way to stop it for most pages, with a Firefox extension from noscript.net Apparently the google thing is a browsing sniffer that mines your browsing history data to sell to advertisers. Man, you can't snooze even for a second in this brave new world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted January 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 Interestingly, it appears that the floating button was caused by another Firefox extension called Ghostery, which reports on browsing trackers... The new extension (above) actually blocks these. Genius has it's limits, but idiocy knows no bounds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 are you familiar with the trend of prediction software? yes they are monitoring you. here is their cover story: http://code.google.com/apis/predict/ ad of course, not their cover story. http://googleworlddomination.com/ http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/337791/What_Google_Knows_About_You http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html but of course, according to many here; none of this could be real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 but of course, according to many here; none of this could be real. Coaster is right in the suggestion that there are very real threats to user privacy and security out there -- from the private sector, the government, and, especially, from cybercrime enterprises, some of which have the complicity of foreign governments. Unfortunately, some folks tend to conflate paranoid fantasies and politically motivated misinformation with the real thing in their minds or mix sometimes baseless conspiracy theories with info about real threats -- sometimes through innocent ignorance, and sometimes in an attempt to lend greater credence to misinformation they're trying to spread. A certain amount of diligence in vetting such information by researching it using credible sources is a responsible step before passing it along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 Unfortunately, some folks tend to conflate paranoid fantasies and politically motivated misinformation with the real thing in their minds or mix sometimes baseless conspiracy theories with info about real threats -- sometimes through innocent ignorance, and sometimes in an attempt to lend greater credence to misinformation they're trying to spread. A certain amount of diligence in vetting such information by researching it using credible sources is a responsible step before passing it along. the fact that my opinions of the FCC takeover differ from your does not relegate my understanding to "baseless conspiracy theories" or "paranoid fantasies and politically motivated misinformation " if anyone has paid the least bit of attention in all this, one may notice i have not attacked anyone, nor attempted to diminish anyone. i cant say the same for some others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 the fact that my opinions of the FCC takeover differ from your does not relegate my understanding to "baseless conspiracy theories" or "paranoid fantasies and politically motivated misinformation "if anyone has paid the least bit of attention in all this, one may notice i have not attacked anyone, nor attempted to diminish anyone. i cant say the same for some others.I did not say it did. In fact, did I not agree with you that there are a number of very real threats? By the same token, while we certainly disagree in our interpretation of what the push for net neutrality from internet activists is about, I think you will probably agree that there is a lot of misinformation and outlandish conspiracy fabulation out there -- from either end of what we think of as the political spectrum -- I was just reading some patently outlandish and paranoid nonsense from a leftist blog -- and that those who mix what seems to be obvious nonsense or misinformation with real threats may, at times, unfortunately cause folks to disregard very real dangers. We may disagree on some specifics in this case, but I think we're on the same page with regard to the idea that there are a number of entities from all sectors who are very interested in mining people's browsing habits for data, in manners that range from anonymous aggregation all the way to quasi-legal or outright illegal personal spying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 ok, we can agree on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 I should rush to point out that the opposite can be a problem, too -- with folks assuming that because one threat may be exaggerated that none of the threats are real. Maybe it is better to be just a little bit paranoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesdenish Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 Google Analytics is a free statistics tracking and analysis, which allows Web site administrators can analyze the flow of traffic on the site. Although the majority of hosting solutions to similar software, may be easier to understand and easy to navigate as Google Analytics. One of the most impressive features of Google Analytics can report on some pages of "goals". This is precisely the advantage of e-commerce websites. However, regardless of the purpose of the site, Google Analytics can help improve the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 damn spammers. maybe the feds should do something about that. as if Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted January 8, 2011 Members Share Posted January 8, 2011 I intially set up my Blog to feature AdSense. It then proceeded to litter my blog with tacky little mini-ads and underlined "keywords". It was butt ugly, ruined the look of my blog, so I disengaged that capability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.You've been reading my mind. Oh... I'm hot today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted January 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 It's sort on innocuous, then, I guess. I still would prefer not to be tracked, though I realize the business model of the web depends on ads... Let 'em track somebody else, dammit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 its absolutely NOT innocuous. it is quite sinister, in their own best interests and no concern for your interest at all. peer block can help, but i assure you - the minions at google are nothing short of highly intelligent. google, contrary to their former motto has in fact turned evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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