How to Opt Out Of Interest Based Targeted Advertising Networks Tracking Your Activities On The Internet

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By Walkaboutangel
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Advertising networks are constantly looking for new ways to target their ads to their customers. Until recently targeting relevant ads to the content of websites was considered to be state of the art. The newest improvement is the more recent development of interest based advertisement targeting. This means that when you visit a website one of the networks puts a cookie on your computer that tracks your activities on the internet. It stores this information and reports back to the network. The network then draws conclusions from your activities and decides what sort of ads to serve you that are targeted to your field of interest. If you think this is creepy and would like to opt out of this system you can. Here is how.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Go to the opt out link in resources. This is the website for the Network Advertising Initiative.
Step 2

Near the top of the page on the right hand side you will see a bright red oblong labeled Consumer Opt-out with a yellow check mark.
Step 3

This will take you to the "Opt Out of Behavioral Advertising" page. Scroll down the page until you see "Opt-out Status" in bold print.
Step 4

Below this is a list of advertising networks that may have tracking cookies on your computer. The opt-out tool will have looked at your cookies and will tell you which company has cookies on your computer. You can check off the networks individually so that they can no longer track your behavior or you can choose the option "Select All" and stop them all.
Step 5

Once you have made your selections click the Submit button.
Step 6

Follow the instructions to remove any cookie that is not successfully removed by the opt-out tool.
Step 7

Although the tool replaces the tracking cookie with an opt-out cookie which should block the placement of another tracking cookie, you may want to bookmark this site and use the tool again every so often to keep the tracking cookies off your computer.

Tips & Warnings

You may find that your computer runs a bit more quickly with the cookies gone. Mine did.
These tracking cookies are different from the cookies placed on your computer when you visit a website and lets that website recognize when you return. These tracking cookies actually keep track of your activities on the internet. They make a record of what sites you visit and what you do while you are there. It is your right to opt out of this type of tracking. I have no relationship with this website or with the Opt-out Tool. I just think it is a good service being offered.

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