One way to make cookies bite the biscuit

from here and here

Actually blocking cookies seems to create problems with a surprising number of sites, so using incognito mode or private browsing mode in other browsers to limit the lifetime of the cookies to as long as the browser window is open is the next best thing. Neither stop other forms of tracking, though.

Who doesn't love cookies?

found on Reddit

Considering cookies are one of the technologies that allow you to be tracked online, maybe you should be a little more discerning about which sites you accept cookies from.

Let's see you "tailor" your marketing to that preference

from here and here

So I log into my ISP, of all things, and I get a pop-up that informs me that ads are a fact of life and if I want relevant ads I should give them more information about myself. They can go pound sand.

Who'll scoop out the "Privacy Sandbox"?

from here and here

It appears that, under Google's new scheme, while you browse you're going to be added to various "interest groups" and then be shown ads based on those groups, and it'll up to you to go in and clear out/block the groups you don't want. 

In other words, the "interest groups" are the turds in the privacy kitty litter and you may well find that the job of cleaning it out never really ends.

It's a tracking device that also happens to make phone calls

from here and here

Do Russians not watch the same movies and TV shows that we do? Tracking a cell phone is child's play for the authorities, so I find myself wondering what was going through their heads when Russian soldiers gave away their position by using their cell phones. Perhaps the answer is "nothing"

Look who's ignoring privacy settings now

from here and here

If you don't want a record of everything you look at and everything you do sent to Apple, then I have some bad news for you. It appears to happen regardless of what you set on the setting that's supposed to control that sort of thing. Almost as if the setting is a decoy meant to lull you into a false sense of security - or perhaps in this case a false sense of privacy.

No location tracking data for you!

from here and here

The newest thing that's supposed to be the end of passwords is the passkey, and colour me shocked but it requires a cell phone. Now cell phone based authentication has been misused for tracking so many times now I'm not even going to pretend to believe there was any other motive involved in that particular design decision.

When they opt out of your opt out

from here and here

In a move that surprises exactly no one, Facebook has apparently decided that they don't have to follow the explicitly stated wishes of it's users. Their users are starting to sue them over it. That's right, it's not just complaining, it's lawsuits (if we're lucky they'll become class action lawsuits) 

Let's make data brokers broke

from here and here

125 million phones could cover more than a third of the population of the entire United States, and yet I've never even heard of the company Kochava before. If this single unknown company is tracking that many people, just think of how many people are being tracked by all the other unknown data brokers out there. 

Surveillance with a smile

from here and here

So both Tim Hortons and the RCMP have been spying on people. I'm starting to wonder about my home and native land. Is everything spying on me? Are even those damn geese spying on me? 

I suppose technically neither Tim Hortons nor the Royal Canadian Malware Purveyors are actually spying on me because I don't have a mobile phone for them to attack (and people question my decision to forgo cell phone ownership).

When advertising companies make browsers

from here and here

I mean, when you factor in the fact that Google is an ad company, their desperation to keep tracking people makes sense, but it's still desperation, and each year they drag out the end of tracking further just looks more and more desperate.

Who wants to pay to be the product?

from here and here

I can't get over how exploitative it is for Google to charge people for a service and then turn around and collect data about them anyway. That's supposed to be how you monetize services that users AREN'T paying for the service. If I'm paying for a service, I expect my fees to be adequate to reimburse the vendor for their services. I certainly don't expect to be used in that manner. 

I guess their motto of "Don't be evil" really is dead.

Don't Be Google

from here and here

Step right up and play the privacy controls shell game. Guess which settings will cause us to respect your privacy once and for all. It's an honest game. We wouldn't move things on you.

Privacy Theatre

from here and here

I guess that we really shouldn't be surprised Apple took the teeth out of it's earlier move to clamp down on invasive ad-tech. They do whatever they feel like they can get away with, and in all likelihood they will be able to get away with this just fine. Their near monopoly position makes it basically inevitable that people will continue to buy their products regardless of their failure to live up to their promise of providing control.

It's your devices' home too, y'know

found on Izismile

If your phone was a person that you lived with, would you be as surprised to find them referencing things the things you've said while they were in the room with you? 

Treat your digital roomie the same way you would a nosy biological equivalent.

That's one way to get rid of those evil MAIDs

from here

Just in case you believed the people collecting data about you were still protecting your privacy, they most certainly are not. Their efforts are performative and there's an entire industry dedicated to undoing those privacy protections.

They'll get you one way or another

from here and here (image source)

We get so focused on one particular tracking technology sometimes that we forget how many others there are and that we can be tracked any number of different ways.

If you don't want to be tracked, here's two cans and a string

found on Izismile

It's actually quite interesting how concerned people are with the prospect of being tracked by a vaccine that can save their lives, while not caring about being tracked by a phone they play Candy Crush on. One wonders how many of their heads would explode if you forced them to acknowledge the difference.

We better not egg them on

from here and here

So the biggest advertising company in the world (that also makes the most popular web browser) has proposed a new way to protect your privacy while still tracking your interests in order to show you targeted ads. It turned out about as well as you might expect.

I'm not sure what anyone really expected of them. They're going to do whatever they can to squeeze the maximum amount of ad revenue out of us, and the only way to do that is to give advertisers what they want - targeted ads.

It's just not right

from here and here (source article)

Trust is difficult to gain but easy to lose, so I have to wonder what LastPass was thinking when they stuffed their app full of trackers. Did they think no one would notice? Have they never heard the phrase "Trust But Verify"?

LastPass isn't my password manager of choice, but if it had been I'd be looking for a new one now.