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Ready or
not, it's cookie season once again.
I'm
talking about the little bits of tracking software that
Web sites deposit on your computer.
People
used to pout and cry about these digital cookies and
their privacy risks, but nobody seems to pay much
attention anymore.
One
reason is the convenience of cookies can outweigh the
discomfort for some people. Sites use cookies to store
logins, for instance, so you don't have to enter
passwords when you return,
There's
no need to panic over cookies again, but it might be
time to review what's happening now that
Google
and other giants are changing the way they deliver ads
and services online.
We're
entering an era where they know even more about our
location, history and preferences, and profiling
technology is extending from computers to phones,
televisions, game consoles and set-top boxes.
If you're
not quite ready for these "personalized"
services, here are a few tips to get rid of unwanted
cookies delivered by the jolly elves in
Silicon Valley
.
Remember,
they're making a list and checking it twice, they're
gonna find out whose naughty or nice.
—Cookie
monster
Google
quietly rolled out a major change to its core search
service two weeks ago and began personalizing search
results for everyone, even if you're not logged into a
Google
account.
It means
Google
is using information from cookies to tailor your search
results, so that the top entries may not result purely
from algorithms ranking the most universally popular
sites. Rather, they may be based in part on what
Google
knows about your last six months of searches.
As search
expert
Danny Sullivan
pointed out on SearchEngineLand.com, this was a huge
enough shift that
Google
should have given people the choice to opt in to this
personalized search.
Instead
Google
just started doing it, although it's not hard to get rid
of this fruitcake if it's not to your liking.
The
simplest way is to click the "Web history"
link that appears in the upper right corner of the
search result page. You'll get the option to enable or
disable customized search results.
You can
also delete cookies that
Google
and others store in your browser.
If you
log in to
Google
to use its services, you can change your personal Web
history settings, although people who log in or use
Google's
phone software probably aren't overly worried about its
cookies.
—If you
watch a Web video or play animated online games, you've
probably received a more exotic cookie, delivered by
Adobe's Flash software.
Flash
cookies can store the same kind of information as
browser cookies, but they don't go away when you delete
your browser's cookies and history cache. They can be
convenient and store information such as your progress
in a Flash game, but you've got to trust that the site
won't misuse the information.
To get
rid of them, you've got to right click your mouse while
it's hovering over a Flash video, then click on
"settings." This should bring up a control
panel. Click on the folder icon to pull up a slider
control that lets you decide how much data the hosting
site can store on your computer. If you don't want it to
leave any cookies, slide it to zero.
You can
also modify your computer's Flash settings and purge
existing cookies by going to Adobe.com and searching for
"Global Storage Settings panel." This gets you
to a systemwide control panel, with the slider and a
list of cookies on your PC.
—If
you're concerned about targeted ads on your mobile phone
or TV, take the time to scan the privacy notices that
appear in your phone and cable bill. They should provide
an option to block them from sharing information they
gather with partners, such as ad networks
—Privacy
was a big topic for
Facebook
users last week, after the company rolled out new
privacy settings and plans to surface more information
about users. After you've entered all sorts of personal
information into a social-networking site funded by
targeted advertising, semi-anonymous cookies may not be
a big concern.
Facebook's
holiday gift to users was a new game — an online
Rubik's cube.
That's
what its new privacy settings seemed like to me. I spent
hours twisting and moving them around and couldn't get
everything to line up right.
What I
wouldn't have given for a plain old cookie.
Happy
holidays!
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