Reviews for Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker
Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker by Ghostery
Review by Firefox user 12793893
Rated 1 out of 5
by Firefox user 12793893, 8 years agoOr simply install Disconnect. A company who's business model is you, the user, is not a company users should trust.
Some say that Ghostery, Inc. plays a dual role in the online advertising industry. Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information. But it does have an opt-in feature GhostRank that can be checked to "support" them. GhostRank takes note of ads encountered and blocked, and sends that information back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked.[9] Though Ghostery claims that the data are anonymized, patterns of web page visits cannot truly be anonymized.[10] Thus not everyone sees Evidon's business model as conflict-free. "Evidon has a financial incentive to encourage the program's adoption and discourage alternatives like Do Not Track and cookie blocking as well as to maintain positive relationships with intrusive advertising companies," says Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford grad student and privacy advocate.[11]Some say that Ghostery, Inc. plays a dual role in the online advertising industry. Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information. But it does have an opt-in feature GhostRank that can be checked to "support" them. GhostRank takes note of ads encountered and blocked, and sends that information back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked.[9] Though Ghostery claims that the data are anonymized, patterns of web page visits cannot truly be anonymized.[10] Thus not everyone sees Evidon's business model as conflict-free. "Evidon has a financial incentive to encourage the program's adoption and discourage alternatives like Do Not Track and cookie blocking as well as to maintain positive relationships with intrusive advertising companies," says Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford grad student and privacy advocate.[11]
Some say that Ghostery, Inc. plays a dual role in the online advertising industry. Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information. But it does have an opt-in feature GhostRank that can be checked to "support" them. GhostRank takes note of ads encountered and blocked, and sends that information back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked.[9] Though Ghostery claims that the data are anonymized, patterns of web page visits cannot truly be anonymized.[10] Thus not everyone sees Evidon's business model as conflict-free. "Evidon has a financial incentive to encourage the program's adoption and discourage alternatives like Do Not Track and cookie blocking as well as to maintain positive relationships with intrusive advertising companies," says Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford grad student and privacy advocate.[11]Some say that Ghostery, Inc. plays a dual role in the online advertising industry. Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information. But it does have an opt-in feature GhostRank that can be checked to "support" them. GhostRank takes note of ads encountered and blocked, and sends that information back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked.[9] Though Ghostery claims that the data are anonymized, patterns of web page visits cannot truly be anonymized.[10] Thus not everyone sees Evidon's business model as conflict-free. "Evidon has a financial incentive to encourage the program's adoption and discourage alternatives like Do Not Track and cookie blocking as well as to maintain positive relationships with intrusive advertising companies," says Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford grad student and privacy advocate.[11]
Developer response
posted 8 years agoHere is the response that we provided in the same article from which that information comes from:
"The data we collect in GhostRank doesn't contain any information about the actual ads that were seen by panel members. Rather, we simply report on the technologies that are used to deliver those ads, the performance characteristics of the URLs those technologies were seen on, and if the user blocked that particular technology company. GhostRank can't see the actual ads or anything about the criteria that were used to target them."
But, if you are at all uncomfortable with sharing any data after what you read, feel free to go into your Ghostery settings, click Support Ghostery, and make sure both boxes are left unchecked. That will ensure you never send any data of any kind our way and you can continue to use the extension without ever sharing anything.
"The data we collect in GhostRank doesn't contain any information about the actual ads that were seen by panel members. Rather, we simply report on the technologies that are used to deliver those ads, the performance characteristics of the URLs those technologies were seen on, and if the user blocked that particular technology company. GhostRank can't see the actual ads or anything about the criteria that were used to target them."
But, if you are at all uncomfortable with sharing any data after what you read, feel free to go into your Ghostery settings, click Support Ghostery, and make sure both boxes are left unchecked. That will ensure you never send any data of any kind our way and you can continue to use the extension without ever sharing anything.