Are you being stalked by ads?

The first time I notice I was being stalked by ads was noticing the littlebanners on the side on Facebook to be exactly the online stores I recently browsed from.

This is called ad re-targeting and its becoming an issue. But what is it? Ad re-targeting is a cookie-based technology that uses a simple Javascript code toanonymously “follow” site’s audience all over the internet, (aka a tracking technology). Marketers and ad tech companies will then collect the data so thatit can target us across our devices. The trackers have become so sophisticatedthat they can see when you are thinking about buying something but has notfollow through- the ads will chase you around to lure you into making thepurchase.

These stalker ads have raised privacy concerned. A survey
conducted in 2012 by Pew Research Centre has found that almost three-quarters
of search are not okay with a search engine keeping track of their searches and
using that information to personalise their future search results.

So if you hate these stalker ads as much as I do, here are some easy ways to
sidestep stalker ads:

• • Periodically, clear your cookies so that the ad trackers will have a tougher time to follow you around
  • Periodically purge your Google Ad history with the My Activity Tool, so that you can take a deep look at the data Google has stored about you https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
  • Install an ad blocker
  • On mobile devices, use a private browser