Deleting Browser History Is Not Enough

[dpfrichard]

As a software engineer I thought for a long time that just deleting browsing history and the temp files would be enough, including browsing using the privacy mode. Apparently that is not enough since many websites track you using flash based cookies that the browser does not control. Just an FYI to prevent the significant other, or some large corporation from tracking your every move when you browse...

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/specificmedia-zombie-cookie/

To clear go to:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager03.html

and set the storage to 0 and to disable any storage

Then go to:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager06.html

and click "delete all sites"

Then go to:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html

And make sure that it is set to none and to "never ask again"

[Darkfinn]

Or just get FireFox or Flash Switch and disable flash.

I hate flash...

[TDL]

Or just get FireFox or Flash Switch and disable flash.

I hate flash...

Apple lover, sheesh...

[Darkfinn]

Actually I don't like Mac... they are overpriced and really only useful for graphic designers, though they don't get viruses that often.

I just despise flash b/c it is another attempt by corporations to act as "Big Brother" and clog up computers with crap to keep tabs on people's every activity. It runs in the background and cannot be uninstalled, and it is used for 95% of all web advertising. But hey, we must be OK with it b/c we allow it to exist.

[dpfrichard]

Or just get FireFox or Flash Switch and disable flash.

I hate flash...

What I REALLY hate are the sites that are ONLY flash. I know it is much easier to code, but it is MUCH slower and it is not accessible to many people.

Either way, my post earlier was to let people know that there are secondary ways of tracking your surfing habits that we should be aware of.

[Juliabam]

What I REALLY hate are the sites that are ONLY flash. I know it is much easier to code, but it is MUCH slower and it is not accessible to many people.

Either way, my post earlier was to let people know that there are secondary ways of tracking your surfing habits that we should be aware of.

My new computer is windows 7 64 bit, the browser refuces to show flash because they only make it for 32 bit browser, so I have to swap between the standard and the 32 bit browser every time I wanna see something flashy, but I guess that means my normal browser is protected so long they don't develop a new 64 bit flashy thing

[AutieAB]

Firefox (with 3rd party cookies accepted for session duration only) + Adblock Plus + NoScript FTW

[anondl]

Firefox (with 3rd party cookies accepted for session duration only) + Adblock Plus + NoScript FTW

Firefox, got it.

Addblock Plus, got it

Cookies removed at shutdown, got it

NoScript, Huh?

Anondl

[dpfrichard]

My new computer is windows 7 64 bit, the browser refuces to show flash because they only make it for 32 bit browser, so I have to swap between the standard and the 32 bit browser every time I wanna see something flashy, but I guess that means my normal browser is protected so long they don't develop a new 64 bit flashy thing

I am writing this on my Windows 7 Enterprise edition 64 bit and it definitely can show flash in Google Chrome, FireFox, Opera, and Internet Explorer. Something is wrong with your setup. Flash is so prevalent that even my Windows 2008 R2 server box, which only comes in 64 bit, displays flash.

[diamondback6881]

Or you can decide to not give a fuck if people know what you are looking at online.

[babyfett]

Or you can decide to not give a fuck if people know what you are looking at online.

Agreed

[amp501]

I do believe that all of the information that you surf is sent back to your ISP as data. Now, how much they process, sort, collate, or whatever, is another matter. But, everything you do on the internet is collected and stored in archives.

[Andy]

I do believe that all of the information that you surf is sent back to your ISP as data. Now, how much they process, sort, collate, or whatever, is another matter. But, everything you do on the internet is collected and stored in archives.

Other way round. Your ISP backs up your connection data and stores that.

[Bettypooh]

I'm not worried about cookies and such, even though I delete them on shutdown I read the privacy policy and TOU wherever I go and I've found some sites I preferred to stay away from afterward because of that Having said that I find that most sites just use the info collected in a non-personal manner to decide which features are popular and which aren't. Cookies are what makes using the internet free of charge because they may also sell the summary of their collected data. As shown there are a number of things you can do to opt out of data collection like this if you want to do that but if everyone did that the days of free internet access would have to end because somebody has to pay for those costs

Since I don't do anything illegal here I am not worried about what they know about my internet habits- in fact I see it as a bonus to this community since I visit here often- I want them to know about the ABDL community! And even with all the blocking and masking techniques you can use if someone really knows their stuff they can find you and everything you do online regardless The only way to stop them is to know more than they do- which is well beyond the skills most of us have The main reason I delete cookies on shutdown is to keep my PC from building up more crap- it does too much of that already To be honest I wish I would hear from a site that wanted to know more about me in a manner which I could control because then I could make a deal to sell them what they want to know- and it would be nice to know that I am that interesting to someone other than myself!

Bettypooh

[AutieAB]

NoScript, Huh?

Primarily installed because it blocks flash (and any other plugins) in a more intuitive manner than Adblock Plus. It blocks all Flash objects but replaces them with a placeholder image - a single click on the image loads the plugin if you want. You can use ABP to do a similar thing but you have to click a fiddly little semi-transparent tab to block/unblock and it causes a full page reload to unblock, IIRC.

Also, given that the browser I have NoScript running in is running on a VM, performance isn't all that great. You'd be amazed how much quicker sites load when NoScript stops them pulling in all manner of crap from Facebook, Twitter, AdSense, syndication services and all the other off-site scripts that sites love to run these days.

[Yipyap]

I am writing this on my Windows 7 Enterprise edition 64 bit and it definitely can show flash in Google Chrome, FireFox, Opera, and Internet Explorer. Something is wrong with your setup. Flash is so prevalent that even my Windows 2008 R2 server box, which only comes in 64 bit, displays flash.

Nothing is wrong with their setup. On 64-bit versions of Windows, you get 32-bit IE and 64-bit IE, the 64-bit browser will not show anything flash because flash has not released a 64-bit version on Windows yet (there is 64-bit for linux atm). Your other browsers show flash because they only have 32-bit versions of their browser available so flash works with them.

[curiositykilledthecat]

I just don't care, if comcast wants to sell my browsing history, I'd love diaper ads.

[squashNstretch]

Please care more about your online privacy. It's all this general apathy that is letting Facebook and others get away with some pretty bad breaches of privacy. It goes waaaaay beyond 'What ads you see', and 'if you aren't doing anything wrong, then what are you afraid of'.

[peepeepants]

I don't really care much about (superficial) online privacy. Sure, I don't want my friends to know I'm into diapers for example, but I only make sure people can't accidentally find things

I delete my URL history, so for example dailydiapers doesn't show up, but hey, if you check my cookies and flash history you will find it.

As long as it's legal, I don't care if someone finds out something about me. As long as it's not accidentally.

I do have a small advantage. I'm a 4chan regular, so (it happened before) if a friend of mine finds a fetish site, or finds my porn folder, I can just say it's a source for pictures on /b/.

"lower" online privacy (companies finding out whatever I do) isn't that hard. I block all ads so external companies can't track my browsing (just how often I visit THEIR site) and facebook only knows my name and age.

[BabyJune]

Agreed

Yeah, but I'd give anything to be able to read the DD boards at work. I don't do it, though, for fear of it raising a red flag somewhere on our corporate server.

[Yvhuce]

You should be working at work, not surfing the internet.

[lil_baby_wet_n_squishy]

Not sure why people are hating flash here as it works on every computer out there and even on phones.

But back to the topic at hand your computer will do DNS caching where it will keep track of your most recently used websites for faster loading. Some routers will do it as well (Verizon Fios).

[anned]

Years ago when i first went on the Internet i misspelled my name and used a pobox for the billing address.

I use the misspelling when i join sites i also list the town i live in wrong (next town over)

I use screen name ANNED for all sites that i don't want tracked as you can not google Anned and track me (by the way anned stands for ANonymous NED)

I also have a 8 gig flash drive with a portable Linux OS that i can put in any PC and operate from.

This way i do not leave a history on other computers.

I also do not leave passwords screen names or any other data.

there is also a anti key-logger so no one can use that trick.

the flash drive also has AVS and a anti malware program.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-a-usb-flash-drive-in-virtualbox/

http://www.pendriveapps.com/