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Comment by sliverstorm | Hacker News Reader

I don't remember where I read about it, but I've known about it for a while. I was never particularly upset- I understood it to be aiding ad networks in targeting, which I think is a good thing.

You seem to think this line implies they are not improving targeting:

> Evidon doesn’t work to allow advertisers to be more invasive.

But this says to me they don't help advertisers shoehorn ads in more places, not anything about targeting.

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I'm indifferent to it, I knew they were collecting data, I didn't know where it was going from there.

I have never used or recommended Ghostery because I don't believe blacklisting tracking targets is the solution.

The 'more invasive' line isn't clear - it isn't a term that you find in other privacy policies. It would be difficult to be 'more invasive' than tracking with third-parties on the web the way it is today.

I think they may be forced into expanding and clarifying that line and parts of the FAQ is this becomes a popular issue.

I read that entire section and can't figure out what they do or don't do ..

Ghostery claims 8 million users are opted in to "share" their data. From the informal polling I've done of Ghostery users (I work on an anti-tracking alternative called Disconnect), I believe less than 1 in 10 of those users know Ghostery is selling their browsing data to advertisers.

If Ghostery cared about being more transparent than the ad industry, they'd have to do a lot more than fix their FAQs. They should opt out all of the 8 million users who opted in without being told their data would be sold. Then Ghostery should re-onboard these users with accurate messaging. Quite frankly, Ghostery should also send checks to the 8 million users for all the money Ghostery made off their data.

Unless I am mistaken, saying that "Ghostery is selling their browsing data to advertisers" is wrong, at least to common understanding of those terms.

I have ghostery installed and I do knowingly opt in to the anonymous data sharing. From their FAQ (http://www.ghostery.com/faq#q16) my understanding is that there is nothing personally identifiable about this data, they are just using my interaction with the web to say "Tracker X appeared on website Y". I see nothing wrong with this.

I'm happy to let them gather this information and profit from it - they are providing me with a useful service and selling that aggregate, anonymous data lets them stay in business and continue to provide me with their service. If I am misunderstanding something, and this data can be used to identify me as an individual, I would welcome an explanation.

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