I'm glad this came up to make me think about it more; I'd already gotten in the habit of logging out of FB except when actively viewing the feed, for precisely this reason---I didn't want FB tracking me across browsing other sites. (The FB-hosted comment systems were actually the proximate worry, as well as the Like button.)
But that was my half-thought-through answer. Of course they're perfectly able to track me even without being logged in.[0] So the real answer is I need to be sure I'm not loading cross-site img and iframes... My Omniweb install I'd already configured to do that, but setting up proper privacy countermeasures on my Firefox install just jumped way up the priority list.
I used to do that. I also started deleting any Facebook cookies before logging into Facebook, and after logging out of Facebook. I then realized that was stupid, because I have a static IP address (helps with my job, which requires remotely logging into servers).
With Facebook cookies everywhere, you don't need to be logged in for them to track you. And in my case, even if I used a different browser for logging into Facebook, they could (in theory---I have no idea if they actually do this or not) still track me based on the IP address alone.
Google is just as scary. A few months ago I did a few searches for local casinos (I was helping a friend of mine get a job at one) and now, I see ads for casinos on about a third of the webpages I visit. It's most annoying, and quite scary when I think about it too much.
>[...] and now, I see ads for casinos on about a third of the webpages I visit.
You should be able to remove that from your ad targeting here: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/ It lists all the categories Google thinks you're interested in and allows you to add or remove categories.
Comments
I'm glad this came up to make me think about it more; I'd already gotten in the habit of logging out of FB except when actively viewing the feed, for precisely this reason---I didn't want FB tracking me across browsing other sites. (The FB-hosted comment systems were actually the proximate worry, as well as the Like button.)
But that was my half-thought-through answer. Of course they're perfectly able to track me even without being logged in.[0] So the real answer is I need to be sure I'm not loading cross-site img and iframes... My Omniweb install I'd already configured to do that, but setting up proper privacy countermeasures on my Firefox install just jumped way up the priority list.
[0] http://panopticlick.eff.org/
I used to do that. I also started deleting any Facebook cookies before logging into Facebook, and after logging out of Facebook. I then realized that was stupid, because I have a static IP address (helps with my job, which requires remotely logging into servers).
With Facebook cookies everywhere, you don't need to be logged in for them to track you. And in my case, even if I used a different browser for logging into Facebook, they could (in theory---I have no idea if they actually do this or not) still track me based on the IP address alone.
Google is just as scary. A few months ago I did a few searches for local casinos (I was helping a friend of mine get a job at one) and now, I see ads for casinos on about a third of the webpages I visit. It's most annoying, and quite scary when I think about it too much.
>[...] and now, I see ads for casinos on about a third of the webpages I visit.
You should be able to remove that from your ad targeting here: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/ It lists all the categories Google thinks you're interested in and allows you to add or remove categories.
I just use a totally different browser for Facebook.
This doesn't help as much as you'd hope.
When you are using your non-FB browser and visit a website with the FB buttons installed, FB gets click data about you.
You need to use a blocking extension in your non-FB browser in order to effectively implement your technique.