![]() These can be “functional” cookies that are used just to keep you logged in, or to remember what products you put in your cart.īut website developers also insert cookies that come from companies such as Google and Meta (Facebook’s parent company). When you go back a website later, the company retrieves the data it has collected about you.Ĭookies come from several sources, sometimes including the company that owns the website. A Recipe for CookiesĪ cookie is basically a small block of text with a user identifier made up of letters and numbers and some other details that a website stores on your computer or phone. The results supported my experience: It seems like the opt-out boxes often don’t work. The goal was to learn whether opting out of cookies prevents targeted ads. Then we watched as they surfed the web for months, taking pictures of every ad they saw. We picked 21 websites to test and sent out an army of ThomasBots to opt out of cookies. Boltive gave the bot a browsing history, just like a real person’s. The bot would surf the internet using a custom-built web browser that made websites think it was a real guy. So Boltive designed a more rigorous experiment, harnessing a patented system it uses to help companies audit the ad technology on their websites, including the privacy controls offered to consumers.īoltive created a program we called ThomasBot (yes, named after me). My test didn’t prove these were targeted ads-maybe it was just a coincidence. The websites and their advertising partners were tracking me for targeted ads even though I’d taken the time to tell them not to-using the tools the companies themselves had provided. (Neither company answered questions from CR.) Fortunately, I don’t, so I’m guessing it’s because the opt-outs didn’t work on, a colitis medication website. And Instagram’s ad network seems convinced that I have colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. Months later, I still get come-ons for a nutritional drink powder called Athletic Greens. I’d never encountered ads for most of these brands before-not the water bottles, not the women’s probiotic supplements, not the thousand-dollar office chairs. If the opt-outs worked, I shouldn’t have been shown targeted ads from those brands on other websites. Then I went back to my normal browsing habits and kept a watch out for ads. I watched videos about the companies’ products, clicked links, and added stuff to my cart that I then “forgot” to buy. ![]() I went to a bunch of websites I don’t normally visit, opted out of tracking using whatever tools were provided, and then navigated the sites acting like someone they’d really want to advertise to. To see for myself, I conducted an informal experiment. “We’re seeing a pattern of violations and risks.” “There are a lot of companies trying to do the right thing, but there’s no one grading the homework,” says Christine Derosier, Boltive’s director of product management.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |