Musings on Politics & Life

Opting Out of On-Line Tracking

watchingout — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:12:03 +0000

Here are some resources for limiting and opting out of on-line advertising and tracking. Right now there are a number of different services and techniques. Some only work with certain browsers, and work in different ways. Some probably even conflict with each other, since they often use cookies to prevent tracking cookies from being placed.

In reaction to growing concerns about this topic, you should expect to see more options appear. Whether we’ll ever get to a single “opt out” tool is a good question, both from a political and a technical perspective. If you know of other services or add-ons (especially for other browsers), please include them in comments, and I’ll add them to my list here.

Ghostery – Firefox add-on that lets you block cookies and other tracking codes from advertisers and other services. You can select these one at a time (and all at once if you want). Ghostery always shows you how many services you’ve blocked on any given page. Note that not all of these are advertising-related; some affect services that offer links to let you link to a web page from Twitter, Facebook, or similar pages; some are web site measurement (analytics) sites, etc.

AdBlock Plus – Firefox add-on that blocks many ads altogether. If you are on a web page where you want to see an ad (or some feature that looks to the add-on like an ad), its easy to unblock ads for that specific page, or for the entire web site.

Opting out from advertising networks. Here are some sites that let you do this; some also give you information showing what they currently know about you. Look for a link labeled “consumer opt-out” or something similar:

NAI – Network Advertising Initiative. Lets you opt out of a large number of member networks.
BlueKai. An advertising network.
eXelate. An advertising network.
Lotame. Yet another advertising network. Link takes you to their opt-out page (not as easy to find as on the ones above).
Google Analytics. This link lets you download an add-on for various browsers, that prevents information from being uploaded to Google Analytics.
Yahoo Ad Interest Manager. Controls ads on Yahoo sites.

iTunes 10.0.1 – Ping and gray icons

watchingout — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:01:50 +0000

With 10.0.1, Apple made a number of major changes to iTunes that have gotten people upset. For some reason they made the color scheme for iTunes a boring gray, turning all the colored icons into dull gray ones. And they did a bunch of things to try and force to use yet another but different social network – Ping. (Name is oddly similar to Microsoft’s “Bing”, another product the world didn’t need.) Fortunately, some people have found ways to get around these mistakes.

There is a way to go back to color icons. This web page provides a link that will return the color icons – but make sure you’ve got things backed up in case of problems. I’ve tried it (iTunes 10.0.1 on MacOs X 10.6.4) and it seems to work fine.

Unfortunately for those of us not thrilled to use Ping, Apple has cluttered iTunes 10 with it all over the place. Its own sidebar on the right, and a little button on the bottom right hand corner to toggle it). A new entry in the “Store” menu in the leftsidebar. Drop down menus next to the selected song, etc.

If like me, you dislike this, there are some things you can do:

Make sure Ping is turned off. You can do this in your iTunes account.
To get rid of the drop-down menus, open Terminal, and type in the following (thanks to BaumDesign for this hint.):

defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool TRUE

To disable the sidebar altogether, type the following the Terminal (this also gets rid of the genius button on the bottom, too. That doesn’t bother me either but it sounds like there are people who like that feature. If you’re one of them, then don’t use this command):

defaults write com.apple.iTunes disablePingSidebar 1

I haven’t found a way to remove Ping from the left sidebar. But since Apple gave it a boring gray icon, if you change back to color icons, then the Ping entry tends to get lost some anyway… Please post if you know of a way to remove or hide this!

Ryder Cup – what a fiasco!

watchingout — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:26:21 +0000

The PGA hype machine has been building up the Ryder Cup all year. Only to end up with a fiasco.

* First the European sites for the Ryder Cup are based on the highest bidder. So this year it was held on the famed 2010 course at Celtic Manor. Wow.

* Next it was scheduled later than its ever been held. This was so the FedEx Cup could be held in its entirety first. Remind the FedEx Cup? I believe someone won that a couple weeks ago.

* They had lots and lots of rain in Wales, which isn’t unusual, but we learned that the 2010 course forgot to add drainage. This in turn led to the schedule being changed, which is fine, except that people tried to keep this a secret. Watched the matches Sunday, and didn’t hear a peep about when the singles would be held. You’d think the Ryder Cup web site would provide the details. No, for some reason, they didn’t feel it was important to display the new schedule; as I write this the schedule on the site still shows that single matches were played Sunday.

* I tried watching the live Internet coverage several times, from different computers. Got nothing but a black screen. Until Monday morning, when I watched it for about 10 minutes until the feed ended due to “technical difficulties”.

* I went to the Internet on Monday to watch the finishing matches because there was no US TV coverage. Apparently if I’d gotten up at 3:30 AM, I could have watched some coverage on Fox Sports Network, but by 8 AM they and other sports channels had more important things to cover. (FSN has a show on the MN Vikings (who had a bye yesterday), TGC was showing replays of the Nationwide Tour event, etc.) Didn’t they get the memo from the PGA hype machine about the worldwide importance of this event?

* There was a Ryder Cup app for the iPhone. Appeared to get some of the worst reviews I’ve ever seen for any app.

Pretty poorly run operation all around… I hope the PGA of America and R&A are suitably embarrassed.

FoxSports – where’s the LPGA and USGA?

watchingout — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:33:34 +0000

I occasionally visit foxsports.com to get baseball scores, and today noticed that they had reports about the PGA Barclays tournament. As long as I was there, I thought I’d check to see what was going on with the LPGA tournament and USGA Amateur. So I clicked on “Golf”.

Guess what? According to FoxSports.com, the only “golf” that’s important is PGA golf – the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, and Nationwide Tour. Nothing about the LPGA, USGA, European tour, etc. Among the tabs they offer – Leaderboards, Schedules, etc. – is one labeled “Tiger Woods”. (Which seems to just be covering the divorce, so I guess this is a temporary link.)

So its pretty clear that FoxSports.com is just interested in the casual golf fan, not anyone serious about the sport. That’s their loss, I guess…

CBeyond – poor behavior

watchingout — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:56:52 +0000

I operate a small business/store, and routinely get visited by sales people. Every 6 months or so, someone from CBeyond comes by. CBeyond sells a variety of telecommunications services. First couple times I was visited, I let the salesman go through their spiel and interview, and they concluded that my needs were pretty minimal and that CBeyond really couldn’t help me. The next couple of visits I just said “no”, and that was it. (Since each sales person was brand new, “just assigned to this territory”, I could excuse this. Doesn’t say much for CBeyond, but that’s not the salesman’s problem. Maybe they’ll succeed, unlike their predecessors…)

It appears that CBeyond is now using telemarketing. Got a call about 6 weeks ago, and had to explain to the caller what I described above. Ignored the “oh but our rates always are changing”, and just made it clear that I wasn’t interested.

The weird thing now is that I have been getting a call from CBeyond about once every couple weeks. Phone rings, I see “CBY-MIN-BRANCH” in my caller ID, but when I answer, they just hang up. No “sorry we bothered you”, or “sorry we called you by mistake”. Just a rude hang-up. This has now happened about 3-4 times; the most recent about 10 minutes ago.

If there was ever a possibility that CBeyond would get my business, that’s gone now!

AlmostGolf balls

watchingout — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:08:10 +0000

An ad in Golf Magazine offered a couple of free AlmostGolf balls. These are solid, reduced-flight practice golf balls. These seemed interesting, so I placed an order on-line.

Almost Golf web site

Special offer web page

I placed the order on July 18. On August 17, I got an e-mail from the marketing department at AlmostGolf, hoping I’d received the balls and offering me a 20% discount if I wanted to order more. But I still haven’t seen the balls!

I sent an e-mail to AlmostGolf about this, but haven’t heard anything back.

Anyone ordered and received these free samples? How long did it take?

And are the balls any good?

dollar coins

watchingout — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:55:36 +0000

An op-ed in the Washington Post on Friday discussed the dollar coins produced by the US Mint, and how these largely go from the Mint to Federal Reserve Banks, where they sit in vaults. Estimate there is about $1 billion of these coins there now, and this should reach $2 billion before the Mint is finished. (Although the cost to taxpayers is about 30c a coin, so there’s only about $600 million of tax money tied up there.)

Stan Collender then wrote an interesting follow-up about the marketing of these coins – or lack thereof.

Dollar coins are probably pretty logical – as Stan points out, because of the longevity of the coins, compared to bills, they end up being a lot less expensive. But as both authors note, you rarely see or get these coins. I operate a store and in nearly 3 years, I’ve had one customer give me dollar coins. My wife got a couple a few weeks ago in change in a Metro machine in DC. In both cases, our goal was to get rid of them as soon as possible.

My guess is that the only way dollar coins will really take off, is if the US follows the approach taken by the UK with the transition from the pound note to the pound coin. Basically just went cold turkey, where one day the notes were no longer acceptable as currency. Unfortunately, such a move takes political leadership – something badly lacking in the US.

So in the meantime, we’re spending millions of dollars a year creating coins that no one wants – yet more evidence of our lack of political leadership. Sigh…

Public Radio Fundraising

watchingout — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:56:46 +0000

Our local public radio stations are in one of their periodic fund raising efforts. These are the times when the announcers go on and on and on and on and on about how wonderful public radio is and how you, too, should send your money. They remind you over and over again that public radio doesn’t run commercials and how lucky you are to instead have a service that instead chooses to disrupt their service for a week or two every few months to go on and on and on and on and on about giving them money.

Of course public radio runs these brief, informative (yet usually boring) messages at the beginnings and ends of many shows that talk about a company that sponsored the show. These for some reason aren’t supposed to be considered “commercials”, so are good. (“This show is sponsored by XYZ Corp, bringing you goodness and well-being through innovative products and services”.) Whereas the brief, informative messages that pay for shows on other stations are considered “commercials”, so are bad (according to public radio). They probably don’t like the fact that some of these messages are in fact interesting to listen to, unlike the public radio announcers who feel the only way to get people to contribute is to drone on and on and on and on about how they need money and how you should be contributing.

It’d be interesting to learn how many public radio listeners go elsewhere during these periods. I know that if I’m listening to public radio and I start hearing the announcer talk about money, I push the button within seconds. And usually don’t come back for a while.

Microsoft and activations

watchingout — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:16:35 +0000

I have been a Mac user for many years, thought I’ve used Windows in various jobs and businesses. A few years ago when I got a new MacBook for my new business I got one with Parallels Desktop and Windows XP installed, along with Microsoft Office 2007. This proved to be convenient for various reasons.

Recently this laptop was stolen, and I bought a new MacBook. I reinstalled Parallels Desktop and then got the Windows XP DVD that came with the earlier MacBook. But when I went to install Windows XP, I was asked to enter the product code. Unfortunately, this was attached to the bottom of the stolen MacBook by the company I bought it from (per Microsoft’s instructions). There was no copy of the code anywhere on the disk, and I didn’t realize I should have written this down.

Poking around on the Internet, its appears that my best option would be to call Microsoft, and after sitting on hold for a while, see if I could get someone to issue me a new program code, which may or may not cost me money. Apparently there’s no way to get the program code off the files in the DVD. I poked around a bit more, and found some program codes listed on some sites; one of these allowed me to complete installation. But after running for a day, I was told I needed to activate Windows, and the code I had (not surprisingly) wasn’t valid.

Faced with the option of buying a new version of Windows (Windows 7, not XP), and probably a new version of Parallels Desktop (since it wasn’t clear the version I had supports Windows 7), I decided to buy Office for the Mac. When that comes (today or tomorrow), I’ll install that, make sure all my Windows files are safely copied into the Mac’s environment, and uninstall Parallels Desktop and Windows.

A great case of where efforts to prevent piracy by a manufacturer end up hurting an innocent customer. Net result to Microsoft is that there will be one less computer running Windows.

Western Union spam attempt…

watchingout — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:15:46 +0000

Yesterday evening I was on the computer when my gmail window showed a chat initiated by my daughter. Not unusual in general, except that I knew at that moment she was performing in a play (that my wife was attending). I quickly figured out this wasn’t my daughter, but instead was someone who’d hacked into her account. I sent my daughter a text message (which I knew she wouldn’t see until after the play), and then played with the person sending the messages, for over an hour.

After my daughter finally got back to me, we changed passwords on her gmail and Facebook accounts (they’d also gotten in their and were asking people for money. Gmail has a link that shows you a history of access to her account, and I discovered that along with local accesses (her computer earlier in the day, and mine more recently), someone was accessing it from Egypt.

Gmail saves history of chats, and I’ve included it. Along with some annotations.

8:57 PM Valerie: hello peter   [first clue - my daughter never calls me by my first name]

9:00 PM me: hello

9:03 PM Valerie: hi

how you?

9:06 PM me: I fine

Valerie: please i need your help at the moment

9:07 PM sorry i never informed you about my trip to london

me: trip to London?

Valerie: yes

i lost my bag in the train

9:08 PM all credit card, mobile, dairy was lost

i called my bank to stop my account till i return home

9:11 PM i need you to loan me with some monies til i return home in 2days

me: yeah?

how?

9:12 PM Valerie: you can send via WU to my name

me: did you contact American Express?

9:13 PM Valerie: i called them to block my card   [she doesn't have an Amex card...]

Name: Valerie [lastname]
Address: london, United Kingdom

me: but they can issue a new one that you can pick up at an Amex office in London [I've never had to use the service, but this was always touted as one of the advantages of Amex - you can get a new card issued immediately, especially in large cities]

Valerie: will refund you back immediately i return home

9:14 PM i already block it, till i return home

pls can u send it now

9:15 PM so i can pay up my hotel bills and get my passport back

me: where are you staying in London?

Valerie: am in the hotel, at 18 banister house E9 6BH london [no hotel at that address; from searching there appears to be a condo there. There is a "Banister House" hotel in Southhamptom, a long way from London E9.]

United Kingdom

9:16 PM me: what’s the phone # – I’ll call you

Valerie: i do not have a phone here

don’t you trust me

9:17 PM will i ask you to send me money to my name if its not me

i lost everything in my bag

me: I can call the hotel and give them a CC # to cover your bills!   [if she was actually in trouble, this would be a lot simpler than getting and paying by cash, and I'm sure any reputable hotel would work with us on this]

9:18 PM Valerie: you can send it online, its midnite here

you don’t need to give your credit card information out its risky

me: midnite? its 3AM   [they didn't even know what time it was in the UK!]

Valerie: yes

9:19 PM me: isn’t John with you?

Valerie: am alone

please let no one know about this

i trust you thats why am sharing this with you

9:20 PM i think computer owner wants to use it

please email me the western union information to my email. will check back in 1hr

me: which email?

9:21 PM Valerie: this particular one

[**** specified my daughter's gmail accout, which I removed here ****]

me: I’ll see what I can do

9:22 PM Valerie: please tell no one about this mess

me: why not?

Valerie: its my wish

you can go to www.westernunion.com

and make payment

9:23 PM will refund you immediately i get back in 2days

9:24 PM me: what time are you arriving?

Valerie: my flight lives in 15hrs

9:25 PM me: what number?

we’ll pick you up

Valerie: 8750

ok

me: 8750 – what airline?

Valerie: AA    [there is no AA 8750]

9:26 PM are you getting the money sent?

me: how much do you need?

9:27 PM Valerie: all i need is $3000 but a friend promised to send me some

don’t know how much you can afford

me: what do you need so much for?

9:28 PM Valerie: i owe

will refund you whatever you can afford, like a 1000 or more would be sufficient

9:29 PM me: what do you mean “I owe”?

9:30 PM Valerie: i have to balance the hotel for management 1,800£

which is approximately $3000 us

9:31 PM me: expensive hotel. You said its called “Banister House”?

Valerie: thats the street in london

9:33 PM me: what’s the name of the hotel?

Valerie: I do not want to disclose it

9:34 PM all i need now is your help

can you help me or not

am getting messed up here

9:35 PM me: I’m logged into westernunion.com, but I need to specify a location near your hotel. Without money, it’ll be hard for you to get into, say, central London

Valerie: just say london united kingdom

thats all

i’ll get money

9:36 PM the nearest post code is e9 6bh

9:39 PM me: what are you doing in Hackney? Normally you stay in Chelsea [fabricated...]

Valerie: OMG

will you get what i need for me or not

me: I’m just worried about you, that’s all

9:40 PM Valerie: all i need now is to get out of here and thats all

no more questions

me: btw, if you’re in London, why does your Mom think you’re on stage right now here in the US?    [I was getting bored, so thought I'd suggest that I was on to them; they didn't get it]

9:41 PM Valerie: oh please

i said you should not disclose this with anyone

can you help me or not

me: I didn’t tell her anything.

but she called an hour ago, and said the gun didn’t go off when you fired it in the play.

Valerie: just get me what i need and i’ll refund you immediately

9:43 PM me: it looks like WU only accepts Visa and MC. My only Visa is my debit card, and I only have $900 in the bank.

wouldn’t it be easier to work through American Express

Valerie: yes

you will do after the other

9:47 PM me: good news! I just called my friend Rick, who lives in London. He agreed to meet you Sunday morning, give you some cash, pay for your hotel, and get you to the airport. He’s very discreet, but this will be a lot easier for you! Where and when should I tell him to meet you? [completely fabricated - no such person]

Valerie: OMG

i said you should tell no one about this

9:48 PM what is going on here

me: but you I trust Rick – after all he’s your godfather

Valerie: can’t you trust me with some money i requested from you

i do not want anyone to know about this mess

9:49 PM send all you can send now and let me get out of here

computer owner is sick of waiting for me

me: but you don’t want to walking around London with several thousand pounds

its dangerous

Valerie: will be fine

9:50 PM i think you are not willing to help me

am greatful for your time here

me: I am trying to help

Valerie: then send me via western union

i’ll be fine

9:51 PM send 900$

while i wait for my friend who will return home to get her card to send me the remaining

9:52 PM me: which friend? [**** mentioned name of her best friend ****] ?

Valerie: no

never mind

me: but you said you’re leaving tomorrow night

Valerie: ohhhhhhhhh

please

me: (or I guess later Sunday your time)

9:53 PM Valerie: will you send it now or not

me: I’m logged into Western Union right now

didn’t realize they charge so much!

9:54 PM looks like I could send you $700

Valerie: ok

i will appreciate

will refund you back immediately

9:55 PM me: OK, I think its on its way to you   [not really - I went to the site, but never did anything]

they want a contact phone number

9:56 PM Valerie: put yours

me: but they want to reach you

Valerie: western union does not reach receiver

9:57 PM don’t play pranks here

you sendint it or not

me: oh I see – its an optional field

Ok its sent

9:58 PM Valerie: did u get mtcn?

10:00 PM me: yeah

just a moment

10:01 PM 2989115715   [did a Google search on Western Union MTCN and found some hits that had (supposed) MTCN numbers; so I took one and switched a couple digits]

10:02 PM Valerie: ok

10:10 PM Valerie: did you call to confirm MTCN

10:12 PM me: yeah

10:13 PM Valerie: how soon can i get it picked?

10:14 PM and what information did you get from them?

me: depends on the agent you go to

some open earlier than others

Valerie: what information did you get

can you sendto me

me: what do you mean?

10:15 PM Valerie: information provided to pick up money

10:20 PM me: sorry got disconnected

Valerie: i think i have to go now, i appreciate your time and help

please do not tell anyone till i return

bye for now

me: let me know if you have any trouble getting the moneh

money

Valerie: ok thnaks

no problem

10:21 PM can you paste me the mtcn number again

me: 2989117515   [note number is different from before...]

Valerie: thank you

bye for now

I can hope that someone has by now visited a WU agent in London, only discover that no such money was transferred…