ATS and spyware/cookies

Every time that I log onto this site I get a popup from fastclick, and daily when I run my anti virus and spyware removal programs there is an entry from Fastclick.Coincidence?Doubtful.So what you need to ask yourself is why is ATS data mining you?Who do they sell this info on you to?Perhaps they are collecting info via these boards on people whose views would be considered dissident.Or maybe they are selling your mined info to some type of marketing,after all they sure plug these boards enough on Coast to Coast AM,and people posting on CT boards would be a demographic I am sure to some branch of sales for somebody.

So what are your views?

Anyone else get fastclick garbage on their computer from this site?


Banner ads are bad enough,data mining spyware crosses the line.

www.removeadware.com.au...



Subject line modified to reflect the topic

[edit on 3-11-2007 by SkepticOverlord]

reply to post by brotherforchrist


If you're a Firefox user, get an add-on called NoScript and install it, this will solve the problem you have described...

If you use IE or another browser, I'm not entirely sure, but their must be other options for you to stop this...

For me using Firefox, I simply disallow fastclick or whatever ad organisation want to block, on any domain I visit..

Hope this helps

Peace

Yep, Firefox + NoScript + CookieSafe+ AdblockPlus= No ads imbeded in pages, no popup ads, and you get to block all the other junk thats on the ATS pages like google-analytics, quantcast, exponential.com, and quantserver plus other.

And afer you download all that stuff. You should slay it with your divine flame sword. You know that spyware is definitely a detriment to all man kind, at least those with a computer.

Where the top-page ad banner is supposed to be, I see the words “deny ignorance.”

Edit: Out of courtesy to the administration, I've decided to retract my explanation of how I suppress ads on my browser. Doing so is bad enough, but telling other people how to do so could be inexcusable.

[edit on 3-11-2007 by NRen2k5]

More site than not use cookie tracking and I bet 60% of people on here have exactly the same thing on their computers.

I use adblock and cookie safe to block cookies and only allow sites where I log in to set them.

Dont use IE because you will get a lot worse things on your computer than a couple of cookies.

Originally posted by Flyer
More site than not use cookie tracking and I bet 60% of people on here have exactly the same thing on their computers.

I use adblock and cookie safe to block cookies and only allow sites where I log in to set them.

Dont use IE because you will get a lot worse things on your computer than a couple of cookies.

Agreed.

Not only do you have to worry about cookies with IE, but you also have to worry about your startpage being changed, toolbars being added, being infected with a trojan…

[SNIP]
Mod Note: General ATS Discussion Etiquette – Please Review This Link.
[edit on 3-11-2007 by NRen2k5]

[edit on 3-11-2007 by sanctum]

Blocking popups and removing tracking cookies = OK imho, SO can't control who advertises on the site 100%

Blocking banner ads, google ads and such is imho a good enough reason for webmasters to ban people from their sites.

Websites need to generate revenue, especially behemoths like ATS.
Bandwidth and hosting servers aren't free and the time SO puts in for maintenance, updates and the likes isn't free either.

Right. Even though it isn’t addressed in Sanctum’s link, I guess I didn’t tame my vocabulary enough in my analogy, so I'll just have to put it bluntly.

Surfing the web with Internet Explorer is suicide.

Originally posted by brotherforchrist
removal programs there is an entry from Fastclick.Coincidence?

What you're seeing are simply cookies. We've audited all of the advertising networks supplying ads to ATS, and none of them do anything more than install cookies that are used to ensure you don't see the same ad too often.

Cookies are not spyware.

We're certainly not now, nor ever were doing anything other than using cookies.

There you have it folks from the man who knows. No conspiracy here, hehe. I never get popups on this site unless I am not logged in.

I love this site, I trust the admin. here, they are posters like the rest of us.

[edit on 3/11/07 by Rhain]

Originally posted by Rhain
No conspiracy here, hehe.

The real problem, and oddly enough a likely conspiracy, is in the spyware and anti-virus companies.

They know the majority of their customers are not computer-savvy, and they also know every website uses a broad range of cookies from user-session tracking to multiple cookies from multiple advertisers (5 total networks in our case). Throwing up cautionary alerts for cookies makes it look like the software is doing a great job, when in reality it's spreading Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD).

Back in the late 1990's, DoubleClick was building intelligence into it's software to track the sites people visit and better target advertising based on your pattern of usage. While this was an irresponsible extension of the technology, even then there would not have been any personally identifying data.

Contemporary "cookie tracking" is primarily used by ad networks to control the number of ads you see, and sometimes, the order in which you see them -- for example: you'll see the banners from higher-paying advertisers first. However, we have seen some rare banners with potentially invasive techniques, and we stay on top of those and report them to our ad networks. In all cases, action has been swiftly taken and the ads removed (we can also negate specific ads in our control panels for these networks).

I've been online since before cookies were introduced in the Netscape browser, and have never deleted any cookies... ever (well... sometimes when I'm testing new code ).

Yes i aggree..ATS policy on popup adds..and cookie placing adds...needs to be seriously reviewed.

The OP is right..fastclick plants a malicious tracking cookie on your computer. i doing a spyware removing right now, and my spy sweeper just picked it up as a malicious tracking cookie.

Whats that? Yes i even have a pic...

I circled the cookie so you can see it more clear. But there you have it folks..spy sweeper says NO to fast click.

I hate spyware and tracking cookies. I even helped a resistance group if you will..who exposed an online video game that was using spyware. Read all about it here spyware in SFO

So obviously i don't support certain advertising measures here on ATS. However i'm a good samaratain so i'll tell you how to block all cookies/adds permanatley.

First open your internent properties by opening IE and selecting Tools>Internet options. Then click the "security" tab. Welll all you have to do from here is select internet, then "local intranet" then trusted sites (optional) and raise the bar from Medium (default settings) to "High" This will help stop a lot of unwanted spy methods.

After you change all those settings to high...click the "privacy" tab..and move the bar all the way up so that it says "Blocks all cookies". That should completley eliminate all sorts of pop ups by ATS. AOL users: you can get added security by opening ATS in your broswer window..then click on the area where your pop up controls are, at the bottom of the webpage. IT may say "allowing popups from ATS" or "blocking popups from ATS". Either way it doesn't matter..what you're going to do is click on that button, and then select "block popups from abovetopsecret.com" and "block animated media from abovetopsecret.com"

That will really set you up to have nothing on your computers. And if you want just a bit more security after doing allll that stuff...then click the "set pop up controls preferences" in the same tab where you chose "block popups/animated media from ATS". A new window should open up and you will get a 3 tab screen saying web pop ups, animated media, and popups from AOL. In "web popups" select "block all popups". In aNimated media, click "block animated media from these sites" then add www.abovetopsecret.com to the list. Finally, select Aol popups and select "block popups from AOL".

There you have it folks..no more fastclick, animated banners, or annoying popups that just won't stop. There is a "horrible twist" to this though...it will prevent you from logging into ATS. But simply reset your cookie settings to the default settings if you want to log in.

I think there is a way to log in while your settings are high, but this wasn't ment for people who want to avoid this stuff when they log in. This was really ment for the people who simply wanna browse the site, hassle/tracking cookie free.

Originally posted by Spawwwn
fastclick plants a malicious tracking cookie on your computer.

If you can explain how it's malicious, I'm wide-open to a serious and critical review of ValueClick Media (the new name of the company using the fastclick.com domain).

I hate spyware

As do we all... but cookies are not spyware.

i'll tell you how to block all cookies/adds permanatley.

If you block all cookies, you won't be able to log into ATS... or nearly all sites that require a log in. We use what could be called "tracking" cookies to store basic identifiers so our core system to confirm you are an authentic user.

and then select "block popups from abovetopsecret.com" and "block animated media from abovetopsecret.com"

Since we rely on our advertising to keep the ship running, and fund our upcoming initiatives, this is a technical violation of our terms and conditions. However, when you're logged in, you won't get any pop-ups... and even when you're not logged in, you won't get more than three a day (unless you block cookies, then the pop-up providers have no way to know how frequently you're being served the pop-ups).


As I said above, the spyware/adware prevention companies want to fool you into thinking cookies are malicious as a way to perpetuate the need for their software.

My constant mod harassment since exposing this makes me believe that your site is not on the up and up, sorry to inform you.

1) Posts about the underlying code to the English language/Gematria deleted by mods.

2) Was told that my own original resarch was plagerized and warned to post a link and to post sources or be warned again,due to contriversial nature of my post exposing the polythestic roots of the Abrahamic religions,among other things how the 10 commandments were blatantly stolen from the book of the dead, and Moses links to mystery initiatory instruction

3) Warned multiple times since posting this thread

4) This is the exact same thing that happened to a good friend of mine here TheFetch, he got a little too close to the truth for this sites liking and got banned in only 8 days despite doing nothing wrong.

Your site is a sham Mr.Owner. You hide the truth, and allow blatant lies to permiate these boards.

Originally posted by brotherforchrist
Your site is a sham Mr.Owner. You hide the truth, and allow blatant lies to permiate these boards.

Well I'm sorry your initial experience here has not been what you hoped... but I can assure you it had nothing to do with your false assumptions about cookies in this thread.

Your thread titled, "Hello I am an angel," was indeed deleted because it was rather silly... and we don't abide silliness well. It appears your warning was also for that post, because we don't allow hoaxes. You only have one warning, not multiple.

WHy don't you take a look at Ziba's post where he claims the exact same thing,and to call into consideration that these boards have to be moded equally.If that post is removed the whole exilluminati treasure post needs to be removed.Why don't you take a look at this thread

www.abovetopsecret.com...

and how many people have begged mods for it to end,because it is blatant lies.

Why is nothing done about this thread?

Why don't you tell them how you ran TheFetch off the boards despite the fact that he did absolutely nothing wrong.

His site can be found here:

illuminatusobservor.blogspot.com...

He lasted 8 days despite breaking NO rules.

Again, this site buries/bans the truth and does little to actually deny ignorance.

Perhaps if you routinely read your own boards Mr.Owner and used the slightest bit of common sense you would realize that the " I am an Angel" post was a tongue in cheek jab at the erroneous claims of Ziba/TheStatue and an excercize that was meant to show the absurdity of his claims... claims which I mirrored that got a post dropped and a warning for me, yet you allow his drivel to stay for some reason.

Clearly angels do not post on ATS, so maybe you should do something about his obvious hoax.

As is the case with account terminations here on ATS, there is often a significant exchange not seen by members that often contribute to someone being banned. Such is the case with the member you mentioned as he refused to follow some very simple content guidelines/rules. Not to mention an inherently belligerent non-collaborative attitude that you seem to share.

edit

[edit on 3-11-2007 by jpm1602]