Collusion
Reading the back of the menu at Buck’s, while waiting for my burger the other night, reminded me of an important topic I have been meaning to share with you since its announcement at the recent TED U event. (If you are not familiar with the TED Talks, click here.) It concerns a subject near and dear to my heart, and this little item is a bit of good news for all us ‘little guys’.
What I am talking about is called “Collusion”.
Meet Collusion, announced today onstage at TED U
“This morning onstage, Gary Kovacs of Mozilla announced a fascinating browser add-on for Mozilla: Collusion. It allows you to track who’s tracking you online … and the results are surprising to say the least.“
You should know, tracking our online behavior is big business. The revenues involved in the top online tracking companies is over $39 billion — I’m in the wrong business: that’s pretty good money for spying on us!
(And f you think this is some small issue.. or some NBD thing that only happens when you’re online doing Google searches, you really really really need to watch the video Big Brother Big Business. I think it ought to be required viewing before you can vote!)
Why this is important:
“Take control of your data
We recognize the importance of transparency and our mission is all about empowering users — both with tools and with information. The Ford Foundation is supporting Mozilla to develop the Collusion add-on so it will enable users to not only see who is tracking them across the Web, but also to turn that tracking off when they want to.”
What you should do: Please take two minutes (or less) and look at the animated demo, here, http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/collusion/demo/. Learn about how these vile and repugnant “tracking cookies” automatically build a “behavior profile” about all of us, so somebody can make an easy buck selling our ‘information’.. or serving us up “targeted advertisement”.
[ Update: A version is available for Chrome as well. See, Collusion for Chrome maps how sites are tracking you, courtesy of the Disconnect team. ]
Related reading:
* TED 2012: New Browser Add-On Visualizes Who Is Tracking You Online
“As younger people reveal their private lives on the Internet, the older generation looks on with alarm and misapprehension not seen since the early days of rock and roll. The future belongs to the uninhibited.“
Unrelated: Privacy concerns drive 1 in 4 Facebook users to lie
“Almost 13 million users say they have never set or didn’t know about privacy controls on Facebook, according to Consumer Reports.”
(I wonder how many million declined to admit their ignorance..?)
Much good information here. I hope you’ll click some links (at least view the demo).
Today’s quote: “Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
collusion tracking can be found as an extension to Chrome too.
Naturally.
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nh
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dkdude,
I am not a Chrome user, so my knowledge of available plugins/add-ons there is quite weak, and I thank you for that. I will update the article.
Those of you who are using Chrome, and interested in Collusion, will want to look at Collusion for Chrome maps how sites are tracking you, courtesy of the Disconnect team.
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So many places of which our surveillance is required becomes fatiguing, also robbing us of any thing on the WWW that we enjoy.
The dangers/fears that we become aware of can take on “a life of its own” one needs to find a “balance” in dealing with it all.
Paul, I like your mention of BUCK’S…an interesting place!
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Gaia,
Bucks is a bit of a “Silicon Valley Landmark”, though quite “off the beaten path”.
I would be curious to know how many tech companies and “innovations” were born at the tables there (or… at the bar).
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Bucks..
Urban Gardeners…I like what they represent/produce…Organic Food…by the way of the “innovators and the technology” put to good use.
Your comment is interesting too.
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Gaia,
It is my practice not to “name drop” here. But Bucks seemed a harmless enough exception, and I am glad at least one person found it interesting.
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