Google to Block Firearm, Ammunition, Gun Accessory Ads

[ZigZagZeke]

If you believe that Google doesn't use every trick at its disposal to track you, gather your personal information, and invade your privacy, so it can sell the information gained to advertisers, I have a bridge to sell you. Google was caught bypassing the privacy settings and installing tracking cookies in Apple's Safari browser, even after the user had set Safari not to allow tracking cookies.

I run Ghostery and Adblock in Safari, along with the DuckDuckGo search extension routinely. I also have Safari set to reject 3rd party cookies. It may not be a perfect strategy, but over the last couple of years I've reduced spam email by 90%. I have a rented server, co-located in Seattle, where I run my own email accounts with spam filters using procmail. I can see the statistics and the raw data on what is received, accepted, and rejected as far as email. I've analyzed it and seen direct relationships between sites visited and spam emails.

Use Google products if you want. Just realize that nothing is "free", and that certainly includes Google services. With Google, you are the product they are selling.

 

[Ligito]

Any time I use Google Chrome and Google search engine to look at something, I get an e-mail about the same thing I just searched.

 

[Morpheus]

If you believe that Google doesn't use every trick at its disposal to track you, gather your personal information, and invade your privacy, so it can sell the information gained to advertisers, I have a bridge to sell you. Google was caught bypassing the privacy settings and installing tracking cookies in Apple's Safari browser, even after the user had set Safari not to allow tracking cookies.

I run Ghostery and Adblock in Safari, along with the DuckDuckGo search extension routinely. I also have Safari set to reject 3rd party cookies. It may not be a perfect strategy, but over the last couple of years I've reduced spam email by 90%. I have a rented server, co-located in Seattle, where I run my own email accounts with spam filters using procmail. I can see the statistics and the raw data on what is received, accepted, and rejected as far as email. I've analyzed it and seen direct relationships between sites visited and spam emails.

Use Google products if you want. Just realize that nothing is "free", and that certainly includes Google services. With Google, you are the product they are selling.

You mean this case:
http://www.zdnet.com/google-pays-17m-to-settle-safari-cookie-privacy-bypass-charge-7000023366/

With the complexity of how Safar, cookies, browsers, and all the rest actually get I'm surprised more of these types of bugs aren't found actually. I mean, Google does tend to find their fair share, fix them, then share them with the world.

I never said they were perfect, and I applaud you for your efforts to remain anonymous online. Of course, we are both just talking opinion. Thus far Google has a longer and more positive track record than most companies. Is it perfect, no but I do like my free stuff.

BUT, I think we have gone very far off of topic of this original thread. Which was Google is going to stop displaying ads regarding firearms, firearms accessories, or related items. I wonder if they will find some interesting way to get around ads from Cabela's, Sportsmans Warehouse, Sportsguide, etc? Hell, US Optics or EuroOptics. I get ads from Google for all of those. I wonder if those types of things will stop showing up in their search shopping ads as well... Hmm..

Only time will tell.

 

[The Heretic]

If you think Chrome is tracking personal info you don't need, then point to the code that does this. It is open source.

Safari and IE are not open source.

I gave up on Firefox a long time ago because of all the bugs it had and the memory it consumed.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

If you think Chrome is tracking personal info you don't need, then point to the code that does this. It is open source.

Safari and IE are not open source.

I gave up on Firefox a long time ago because of all the bugs it had and the memory it consumed.

I don't have the time or inclination to try to sort through the source code for Chrome, especially when there are no guarantees that Google hasn't modified it in the binaries. I won't use Chrome because I don't trust Google, and refuse to reward thieves and liars. Proof?

As an example, Apple actually began blocking cookies in its Safari browser back in 2003, and resorted to its own ad identifiers in the mobile version just last year. However, Google was forced to pay $22 million in damages last year for allegedly sneaking cookies into Safari when users visited sites in Google's DoubleClick ad network. Google previously told Safari users that they would be exempt from tracking and ad targeting because of the browser's default security settings. But Google actively circumvented Safari's cookie blocking settings in many cases, the FTC stated.

That said, will Google's new AdID tech really give users more power over their privacy, or give Google more power over how users are tracked and tagged on the Internet? Many industry watchers believe it's a bad idea to hand over more power to big companies like Google and Apple. Others believe that there still needs to be some kind of tracking technology for advertisers, whether it's a new tech or continuing the use of third-party cookies.