[LINK] Redirects, User counters and Advertising

[Craig Sanders]

On Sun, Feb 25, 2007 at 08:41:11PM +1000, Irene Graham wrote:
> Re advert tracking etc, Telstra's using Omniture - masses of Omniture 
> related javascript in the source code of home page and on visiting Telstra 
> home page my firewall logged visits to "cnetaustralia.122.2o7.net" and 
> 2o7.net is Omniture. 

i've been blocking 2o7.net for years.

> http://www.2o7.net redirects to: 
> http://www.omniture.com/privacy/2o7?f=2o7
> 
> which tells you that you can "opt-out" of Omniture tracking etc (they don't 
> call it that of course). How can you opt out? Allow Omniture to put a 
> cookie on your computer.
> 
> One more domain is about to become permanently blocked by my firewall!

if you're running firefox, then install the Ad Block Plus add-on.  it will
block most known advertisements and web bugs.  you can configure it to
auto-update the blacklist periodically.

http://adblockplus.org/

also worthwhile is No Script. it allows you to selectively disable
javascript (and java, flash, and other potential annoyances/spyware)
on a per site basis. it's best to configure it to disable scripts by
default and only enable them for sites that need it when you want to.
you can enable a site either temporarily (i.e. until you quit the
browser) or permanently (until you disable it for that site again).

http://noscript.net/


i install these two plugins on every machine that i install firefox on.
there are a bunch of others (including Tab Mix Plus, Refresh Blocker,
Redirect Remover, Mozex, Flashgot) i also usually install but they're
optional - these two are essential.



maybe EFA should have a web page linking to privacy-protection tools like
these...


craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Currently listening to: Vibrasphere - Infusion

Legalize free-enterprise murder: why should governments have all the fun?