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  • - You know how that one ad follows you

  • everywhere around the internet?

  • Those ads are incredibly annoying

  • and they're kind of a perpetual reminder

  • that you're not anonymous online.

  • No matter where you go, someone knows

  • what you've been up to.

  • Maybe you looked at a sneaker on your laptop last week,

  • and now ads for it are appearing on news sites,

  • on your Facebook feed, maybe even on your phone.

  • That happens because websites and advertisers,

  • they want to track us all across the internet.

  • That's helpful in some cases.

  • You want a website to remember that you're logged in,

  • but it's not helpful in a lot of other instances.

  • Most of it is that advertisers can make sure

  • that you're seeing their ads,

  • or so that they can target you

  • with even more specific ads based

  • on what you've been looking at.

  • It means they're collecting a ton

  • of information on you.

  • That's something you shouldn't have to put up with.

  • And there's some easy ways to put a stop to it.

  • (upbeat music)

  • So maybe you're thinking, well,

  • I have private browsing mode.

  • It's available on Chrome, Firefox, you name it.

  • And that mode is helpful,

  • but it doesn't have everything you need.

  • Part of privacy mode basically creates a new,

  • untouched identity every time you open

  • up the browser and wipes it away

  • once you close the screen.

  • That's really helpful if you're on a shared computer

  • and you want to say buy a gift for somebody

  • without leaving any traces behind,

  • but it's not good for long-term use

  • because you actually do want your browser

  • to remember some things.

  • You might not want Amazon

  • to have its ads tracking you everywhere,

  • but you do want Amazon to remember

  • that you're logged in.

  • So how do we do that?

  • You need to start blocking companies

  • from following you around the web.

  • And that's actually really easy to do

  • because most browsers have an option for it.

  • Safari actually has it enabled by default,

  • but Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all have an option

  • in their privacy settings to block third-party cookies.

  • That's a good, safe place to start

  • that'll increase your privacy.

  • Okay, so what does it actually mean though?

  • What are all these cookies

  • and ad trackers we've been talking about?

  • Well, a cookie is a chunk of data

  • that web sites store on your computer.

  • At its most basic level,

  • this could be Facebook storing your login credentials

  • to keep you signed in, which is good and helpful.

  • Now one website can't access the cookies stored

  • by another website.

  • But the problem is, ad companies can work for

  • and be present on multiple sites.

  • That lets them gain your browsing information

  • from one place to use in another.

  • So for example, maybe you're looking

  • at Legos on a web store.

  • Then the next day, you're

  • on some completely different website,

  • but you see an ad for the Legos you were looking

  • at yesterday.

  • That happened because the first site you were on,

  • had an ad module that's also

  • on the second site you're visiting.

  • That ad can check your saved cookie

  • to see what you were looking at yesterday

  • and show you an ad for it today.

  • That gets even creepier when it happens across devices.

  • Advertising data isn't just kept on your computer.

  • Some of it ends up back on advertisers' servers.

  • So if you use multiple devices on the same WiFi network,

  • that network could identify them as belonging

  • to the same person.

  • So an advertiser might be able to figure out

  • that the same person who looked at Legos

  • on a laptop is also the person who owns this phone.

  • And now the ad is on your phone too.

  • This all happens for a couple reasons.

  • For one, advertisers want to know who you are,

  • so they can target ads to you.

  • And two, they want to make sure you actually saw their ads.

  • They get what they're paying for.

  • Even if you find personalized ads helpful,

  • it's hard to argue the web hasn't come packed with trackers

  • and advertisers haven't taken things a bit too far.

  • So that option built into your browser can help,

  • but it's not perfect.

  • Some work better than others

  • and none of them block everything.

  • If you're really serious about it,

  • you can start to download browser extensions

  • that'll do even more.

  • If you're on a desktop, one I really like is Privacy Badger

  • from the non-profit electronic frontier foundation

  • or the EFF.

  • It doesn't block all trackers outright,

  • instead it sort of learns as you're browsing.

  • It only blocks the ones that it thinks are misbehaving.

  • So you might still see some trackers,

  • but they shouldn't be too invasive.

  • You might want to do the same thing

  • on your phone too.

  • You can download a browser

  • that automatically blocks trackers

  • like Firefox Focus, which is available

  • on iOS and Android.

  • Or if you're on iOS and want to keep using Safari,

  • you can download a content blocker,

  • like 1Blocker, which will allow you

  • to block trackers and a lot more too.

  • You should also be mindful of privacy settings

  • where they're available to you.

  • Facebook and Google both operate immense ad networks,

  • and they each give you some degree of control

  • over how much data they're collecting on you,

  • and how much they personalize their ads.

  • Other ad networks even let you opt out

  • of some tracking if you go to optout.aboutads.info.

  • Anything that gives you an option like this is helpful,

  • but it doesn't necessarily mean

  • that advertisers are no longer collecting

  • and storing data on you.

  • If you want to go even further

  • to protect your privacy, there's more you can do.

  • You can download an extension like HTTPS Everywhere,

  • which is also from the EFF,

  • which makes sure that you're always going

  • to the secure version of websites whenever possible.

  • And if you really, really need

  • to browse privately because of surveillance concerns

  • or censorship, there's always Tor,

  • which goes a long way to protect your privacy online.

  • This isn't something that most people are gonna need,

  • but if you're really concerned about it,

  • you should know that it's an option,

  • and it's easier to get started with than you think.

  • You really just need to download

  • and install the Tor browser.

  • I think the best place to start is

  • that option in your browser that blocks some

  • of the trackers online.

  • It's not gonna break anything,

  • and it's gonna make the web feel a little bit less creepy.

  • Thanks for watching, this is from our new series Workflow.

  • If you liked watching it, let us know in the comments

  • and be sure to check out Verge Science,

  • which is our newest YouTube channel.

- You know how that one ad follows you

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