Thursday, January 1, 2009

Yahoo is tracking group members, how to opt out

I got this from one of the Yahoo groups I belong to and am posting it for anyone else who may want to opt-out of Yahoo's marketing tracking mechanism. I gather that this is not something Yahoo is publicizing, as you are automatically opted in. How many of us really read those privacy statements? I think I'll be taking the time to do that from now on.

You may want to Opt Out of Yahoo's marketing tracking mechanism.
Herewith the directions on how to do so.
>

Yahoo is Tracking Group Members

If you belong to ANY Yahoo Groups - be aware that Yahoo is now using
"Web Beacons" to track every Yahoo Group user. It's similar to
cookies, but allows Yahoo to record every website and every group
you visit, even when you're not connected to Yahoo. Look at their
updated privacy statement at
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html

About half-way down the page, in the section on cookies, you will
see a link that says WEB BEACONS.

Click on the phrase "Web Beacons." On the page that opens, on the
left find a box entitled "Opt-Out."

In that section find "opt-out of interest-matched advertising" link
that will let you "opt-out" of their snooping. Click it and then
click the opt-out button on the next page.

http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/opt_out/targeting/details.html

Note that Yahoo's invasion of your privacy - and your ability to opt-
out of it - is not user-specific. It is MACHINE specific. That means
you will have to opt-out on every computer (and browser) you use.

Related article:
http://antivirus.about.com/od/spywareandadware/a/yahoobugs.htm

2 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for the information! I changed my settings right away!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't use Yahoo Groups, but I'll let my friends know about this. Thank you for posting it! That is completely ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete

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