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Black Hole Lists
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When you go through all of the work and trouble to set up your own forum, you don't want anything to get in the way of its success... especially your forum software. Because of this, it is incredibly important for you to have a good forum software...
Overcoming Procrastination And Starting Your Software Project
Many independent developers have the problem of procrastinating on getting started on their own software projects because they don't know where to start or which idea to work on. A flurry of indecision and uncertainty or desire for instant...
PositiveSMS free pc to mobile software for text messaging
Positive SMS V2 is an advanced pc to mobile desktop application used by business and individuals to send SMS from their desktop or personal computer to mobile phones.
SMS (text messages) was created as part of the GSM phase 1...
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Internet Privacy: Opting Out
Europeans sometimes seem to be much more ethical than Americans (and I am an American; well, a Californian, a state which, like Texas, sometimes views itself as a separate country), at least when it comes to privacy. This higher standard of ethics is leading to some serious friction between the two sides of the Atlantic.
What's all the hubbub about? In the United States, we have chosen (our legislature, which is really controlled by big business and special interests) to allow businesses to send spam, junk mail and collect marketing data (among other things) about people unless those people have opted-out. This means that once you will receive unwanted items, and you must take the time to tell each individual company that you don't want them.
On the other hand, the European Union has set a very different standard: spam and other marketing related items cannot be sent to people unless they specifically ask for it. This is a much higher standard for businesses, as they must now convince people to sign up for their literature and promotions instead of handling the few who bother to say no thanks.
In the United States, opting out applies to just about everything. Even the credit bureaus can sell your marketing information (remember those credit card applications you received out of the blue in your mailbox?) to anyone they want, as long as you have not told them it's not okay. Doubleclick and other agencies can build profiles of your surfing information, unless, of course, you tell them to knock it off.
Because of the laws in the United States, most marketing companies are now providing a way to opt-out from their profiling, pop-up (and under) ads, and sometimes even banners. Usually this method consists of setting a cookie which tells their ad server you have opted out. I know it seems strange to set a cookie to prevent a service from using cookies, but that's the way it works.
Links to the opt-out pages for some of the larger and more common annoyances are listed below. Click the link and follow the instructions. If, after clicking the link, you are asked by your browser or cookie software about a cookie, say YES to save it. Note that if you have disabled cookies (either altogether or for one of these specific sites) then these will not work.
If applicable, you might also read the privacy policies and other propaganda presented by these sites. They are very entertaining as they try very hard to make you understand how all of this is for your benefit.
Advertising.Com http://servedby.advertising.com/optout A large advertiser. Opting out will prevent profiling.
Be Free Inc http://www.yourcontrolpanel.com/mypage/pcp.html One of the larger internet marketing companies. "Be Free will be prevented from tracking any additional data in the future and will result in curtailing the delivery of personalized content to your desktop."
Blue Streak http://www.bluestreak.com/optout.htm Removes some ads and pop ups.
Comet
Cursors http://download.cometsystems.com/no_nag/nonag.asp Stop seeing comet cursor nag screens.
CoreMetrics http://www.coremetrics.com/consumer_opt_out/ opt_out_options.html#optoutnow Opts out of ads served by Columbia House. Note that uRL above is on two lines and should be entered into browser as one line.
Doubleclick http://optout.doubleclick.net/cgi-bin/dclk/optout.pl One of the largest and most obnoxious internet advertisers. This will stop Doubleclick from profiling your visits.
Engage http://www.engage.com/privacy/confirmoo_privacy.cfm Opt out of this companies profiling.
Fastclicks.com http://www.fastclick.net/v4/optout2.cgi?234 "Click to win" ads.
Hunger Site http://www.interpolls.com/privacy/optout/optout.cfm Removes their pop under ads.
Interpolis http://www.interpolls.com/privacy/optout/optout.cfm Movie ads.
L90 http://ads.admonitor.net/opt_out.cgi Another ad server.
Rain Forest Site http://www.therainforestsite.com urnOffPopUnders Removes their pop under ads.
WebSideStory http://webveil.com/linkout/vwr1.hitbox.com/privcenter/edit.html HitBox.com, StatMarket.com, Yep.com amd WebSideStory.com.
X10.Com http://www.x10.com/home/optout.cgi?DAY=3000&PAGE= http://www.x10.com/x10ads1.htm One of the most hated advertisers on the internet, with their intrusive popups and silly product. This link will stop the popups for a long time. Note wrap on URL above.
Some Cautions
Remember that you must opt-out of each and every individual company or service. There is not a global, opt-out of everything magic button anywhere.
If you use more than one browser you must opt-out in each and every one. This is because the browsers do not share cookies.
The opt-out only applies to the computer on which you are on at the time. If you move to another computer you must opt-out there also. (Unless you are using something called a roaming profile, which means cookies and things follow you around. This is common in business environments but not in the home.)
The opt-out only applies to a single log on. This means if you opt-out under "Fred" and you then log out and log back under "Tom", you must out-out all over again.
Opt-out cookies do expire, generally within 5 years. So you must later remember to opt-out again.
If you clear your internet cache and ask that cookies also be erased (or you erase them with a cookie killing product) then you will lose your opt-out settings.
Further Information On Opting Out:
Federal Trade Commission http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/protect.htm Sharing Your Personal Information: It's Your Choice
To see a list of article available for reprint, you can send an email to: mailto:article-list@internet-tips.net?subject=send_article_list or visit http://internet-tips.net/requestarticles.htm
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
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