Page 24 - THE EGO Ivy Informer Volume 4 Issue 1

24

EGO TECHNOLOGY TUTOR
Article Submitted by Soror Lorraine Lacy

Stop the Internet from Tracking You

If you recently looked at pearl jewelry online, you’ll see ads for pearl jewelry pop up while you are browsing. If
you browsed new outfits for Boule, dresses and blouses seem to emerge in the margins of your browser. This is not
just a coincidence. Tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Facebook track your preferences to give you a “more
personal user experience”.

If this makes you uncomfortable, you are not alone. Not long ago, “interest-based advertising” concerned a lot of
people. They couldn’t understand why (for example) Facebook knew what they had just shopped for on Amazon.
The truth is that personalized ads are the result of a very impersonal process.

Your details are
crunched bits of data that
make marketing more
efficient. Interest-based
advertising uses infor-
mation gathered through
your browser (Edge,
Chrome, Firefox, etc.).
Special formulas analyze
your visits over time and
across different websites.
This helps predict your
preferences and shows
you ads that are more
likely to appeal to you.

An average user can be-
come overwhelmed by
all of this tracking. Alt-
hough the process is au-
tomated, such ads can
feel like an invasion of
privacy—like “Big
Brother” is watching.
This is why many people
look for ways to rid themselves of these ads and prevent sites from tracking them.

There are three simple ways you can do just that. Go to this site to learn the details: https://www.komando.com/
tips/375283/stop-snoops-and-advertisers-tracking-you-on-your-computer-tablet-and-phone/2.

Here’s another site with helpful tips: https://www.today.com/money/how-stop-facebook-google-amazon-tracking-
you-t129702