Here's how you can opt out from 100 different online ad networks in one go | Hacker News Reader

Here's how you can opt out from 100 different online ad networks in one go

networkadvertising.org

62 pointsFSecurePal23 comments

What black magic does this website perform to read and modify cookies from other domains? I thought this mass reading and editing of cookies was explicitly not possible.

Looks like they don't delete any cookies. They set a bunch of new cookies in your browser to indicate you want to opt-out.

From the FAQ: http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/faqs.asp

9. How does the NAI Opt-out Tool work? The NAI Opt-out Tool replaces a network advertiser's unique online preference marketing cookie on your browser with a general opt-out cookie. It does not delete individual cookies nor does it necessarily replace other cookies delivered by network advertisers, such as those that are used for aggregate ad reporting or mere ad serving purposes. Such cookies allow network advertisers to change the sequence of ad banners, as well as track the aggregate number of ads delivered (impressions).

...

13. Can my browser settings interfere with the use of the NAI "Opt-out" Tool? Yes. Your browser must be set to accept 3rd party cookies in order for the NAI "Opt-out" tool to work.

(Loads as an image "active/not active")

  http://www.adbrite.com/mb/nai_optout_check.php?nocache=0.1742626
  HTTP/1.1 302 Found
  Location: http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_exists.gif

(Loads as an image "check/x")

  http://www.adbrite.com/mb/nai_optout.php?nocache=5.057925E-02
  HTTP/1.1 302 Found
  Location: http://www.adbrite.com/mb/nai_optout.php?set=yes
  Set-Cookie: ut=deleted; expires=Sun, 18-Oct-2009 15:23:23 GMT; path=/; domain=.adbrite.com b=deleted; expires=Sun, 18-Oct-2009 15:23:23 GMT; path=/; domain=.adbrite.com untarget=1; expires=Thu, 15-Oct-2020 15:23:24 GMT; path=/; domain=adbrite.com

If they deleted the cookie then they would not be able to tell that you opted out they need to set a new cookie so that the next time they see you on their network they can specifically know that you are someone who doesn't want to be a part of their targeting.

If you are a Firefox user, give Beef Taco a shot. Set's them and keeps them loaded: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/180650/

This doesn't stop the ads. It just stops the targeting system inputs based on your past actions. The present is still fair game.

I'm all down for that though. Targetting me on past actions have been a huge fail for the ad servers so far. One example, my wife was thinking about applying for a job at Tom's shoes. I checked out the site to read about their company. Ever since, their banner ads have been following me all over the place, with no interest on my part to ever wear or purchase them. Example two, I was watching a podcast interviewing the CEO of a wine making company. I checked out their site, and again I got followed absolutely everywhere with their banner ads. The problem with their targeting as far as I've experienced is that they have no ability whatsoever to understand the context of my actions, and context is the most valuable part of understanding what would be relevant to me. Without that, all they can do is see that i visited X site, so let's hammer X site's banner at me to perpetuity until I visit Y site, and the cycle continues.

It can be a good way for people to be targeted on what they are about to do if they are targeted in the appropriate way. A company called bluekai sells this kind of data but it is really alot of junk from what I have seen. There are ways though to know when someone has already completed an action or has the intent to complete an action. You might also know that someone will be in a specific city that is not their home, where ads can be targeted.

But I do agree that in the past and to this day there are many ads that lack the appropriate context to be retargeting you on ad networks.

I don't get why this is so annoying. Would you prefer to get random, untargeted banners for home mortgage refinancing or mesothelioma lawsuits?

At least if you allow them to target you, there's an outside chance that once in a while an ad is exactly what you're looking for.

As a matter of fact, yes, I would. I do get tired of seeing the same ad over and over again. I don't use ad block, as I do want to give website owners their rightful due, and I would rather see a variety of ads than one single one over and over again.

Imagine watching television, and in each commercial slot, it's the same commercial, all day, all week. I think you would get sick of that commercial very quickly, and after a while, you would begin to have negative thoughts about the company in the commercial.

The same thing happens when my wife watches her Korean dramas online. There was a week or so, that there was this one single Virgin Mobile ad that played before and during every episode, the one that has that scene of the woman giving birth while screaming at her mobile phone. Even though I wasn't watching the dramas, I was close enough to have to hear that ad 25 times over the course of a night, and I began to harbor extremely violent thoughts against Virgin Mobile.

Edit: not sure that answers your question directly actually, but what I really mean is that I would like to see a variety of ads rather than the one or two that seem to be stalking me everywhere and of which I have no interest. I'd certainly rather see ads from more companies of higher quality than mesotheleomia or mortagage financing, but in all honesty, having one or two of those sprinkled in would at least lessen the badgering I get from the few ads I constantly see.

I feel your pain - there needs to be better tracking of actions. I recently had some major financial documents stolen so I signed up for LifeLock to be safe. I completed the purchase but was followed for days by LifeLock ads, even though I'm now a paying customer. I can imagine it would be pretty simple to remove the cookie once a "goal" was completed at the end of their sales funnel.

The whole point of this is to self regulate. If they don't put forms of regulation like this out on the internet then their will be many people who are very angry with them for not making this available so they are jumping the gun and trying to regulate themselves.

But really the people who will opt out are going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the masses that have no clue that this is even there.

(EDIT)If you want to see what data they actually know about you visit this site. http://tags.bluekai.com/registry

How is it better than using a hosts file like this one? http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

It's better in the sense that it takes 10 seconds from start to finish.

If your goal is instead to block the ads completely, I still prefer to use AdBlock Pro and let them manage the block list, rather than clutter up my hosts file.

Yea, i use these entries, too. Sadly, it breaks some pages functionality.

I was shocked to see that, when you are on paypal.com and click to register a new account, it routes you through some dubious ad network. Scary shit.

Saw this behaviour on another rather large site the other day, can't recall the URL though.

Given I cleared cookies a couple of days ago amazing how many on the list it's telling me I have active cookies for.

For a more complete opt-out than the NAI tool (and a bookmark to remember and update them) try http://www.privacychoice.org

You'll need to disable adblock to make this work properly, otherwise about half of them fail.

And they all fail in Safari, because Safari blocks cookies from 3rd party domains.

The next time you clear your cookies, you have to go back to this site and opt-out again.

very useful, although the report after says it only worked on about half of them.

Yeah sure, just drop me a line.

"('--`good !$#&/?^ luck with your spam {$database}|)"@example.com

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322

I was expecting this to be about editing your hosts file or subscribing to an alt dns service. Fail.

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