A lot of times, we get a question like this:  “If I use your software, will it help me with Craig’s List regarding my ads being blocked?”  This is one question that there isn’t a “yes” or “no” answer for.  Some customers tell us that our software has helped them with this problem, but others tell us that it does not.  Sadly, I don’t have any answers as to why the software works for some, but not others, but I can give some tips our customers have shared with me.  Perhaps these tips will help you to overcome this issue.

Before I go on, please let me request that if you are a client of ours, don’t get too eager and post a huge amount of ads.  This will not only get you banned, but it will also get our IP addresses banned.  If our IP addresses get banned, it won’t be good for anyone.

Now, here are the tips:

• In between each ad you post, make sure you delete your cookies.  A really good browser to use is Firefox because it has a setting that deletes your cookies each time you close your browser.  Additionally, when you use our software and change to a different server, Firefox will close, so your cookies will be removed.
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Whether you call them “HTTP cookies”, “web cookies”, “browser cookies” or just plain “cookies”, it all amounts to the same thing:  Cookies are the tools used by websites to identify what actions were performed by a particular browser.  What this means is that whenever a person uses his or her computer to log-in to a website, read news articles, click the “Like” button on Facebook, or to browse an internet shopping site, pieces of the user’s information are left with these sites for an unlimited amount of time.  Any site visited will be remembered by the browser and traced back to that particular user making subsequent log-ins quicker and easier.  It is possible to delete these cookies from your computer, but that doesn’t always guarantee your internet safety.

Lawmakers in both the United States and Europe were moved to take action against the use of cookies when significant privacy concerns arose.  These concerns centered around “tracking cookies” and “third-party tracking cookies”.  Even though cookies do not carry viruses and cannot install malware on a computer, they can store the browsing histories of individuals for a very long time.  Privacy advocates find this unacceptable.

There are different types of cookies, each with a specific function.  Some of these are:

Authentication Cookies – These are considered as the most important type of cookie.  These are the cookies used by servers to recognize if a user is logged on or not.  They also can distinguish which account the computer is logged into.  With this tool, the website knows if it is safe to send out personal information or not.  If the cookie does not recognize the user, a “You need to log in” message appears.  The authentication cookies are only as safe as the website being logged into and the user’s browser.  If website and/or browser security is not at a high level, the user’s data could be intercepted by hackers.

Session Cookies – These cookies only last as long as the user is on a particular website.  Typically, the cookies are deleted by the browser once the session is ended.

Internet privacy protection efforts are being improved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and this time it will be brought to a new level. Without stifling innovation on the internet, consumers can receive more protection. The set of proposals by the FTC includes innovative functions such as “do not track” and several others.

For a long time, consumers’ online activities have been tracked by the use of “cookies”. Websites send cookies to the consumer’s computer, and this makes it easy for data miners to easily discover their choices of online activities. With enough information gathered, companies can target specific products and services to online consumers. It is difficult for consumers to protect themselves because most of them do not know how to turn off cookies. They need to make an extra effort in finding out the browser’s privacy settings so that they can opt out of cookies. Now, this one is not easy even for the experienced user.

It is true that some consumers might benefit from data mining. This is especially true for those who make online purchases because discounts and other offers may be available if they wish to buy the same item again. However, most consumers find targeted advertisements annoying and threatening to their privacy. That is why authorities are continually finding ways to protect consumers from these kinds of unsolicited ads.

What ever you do online can be tracked.  Even if you are careful, there are still traces that lead back to you.  It does not have to be this way.  You can take control of your privacy.  This graphic shows the dangers of breached privacy on the Internet.

Infographic byWordStream Internet Marketing

Take Control of Your Internet Privacy

Here are  3 simple steps to control your privacy on the Internet:

1. Never post personal information on the Internet.  Once information is on the web, it can be copied and shared without your permission.  Once posted, you’ve lost control over where it can appear.  What may seem harmless can lead to the wrong people having your information.
2. Use an anonymous proxy to hide your IP address.  Your IP address is one identifier that can lead back to you.  By hiding it you can throw would be stalkers off your trail.
3. Clear your cookies.  While normally cookies are not harmful, they do provide information back to websites you visit about your habits on their website.  This may or may not be something you care about.  It depends on the websites you visit.

No, not the sugary sweet ones. These cookies are much less succulent, and can sometimes be dangerous, and not just for your diet plan. These online cookies are just little pieces of data that a website puts on your computer when you log on. Inside the cookies are strands of information that record various things that you did on the Internet, like what parts of the site you went on, how long you stayed there, and other things about your browsing habits. This information is supposed to be helpful and for the most part it is. It serves to tell the website that it is you signing on, and though this they can bring you back to the parts of the site you liked, or even automatically load all of your user preferences that you had stored. This allowed for a more stream-lined browsing of the site, and also it allows for a site to be loaded faster.

As was mentioned before though, cookies can also be dangerous. Instead of the helpful cookies mentioned above, you can possibly have malicious cookies. These are cookies installed on your computer either by a hacker or a bad website. Through this, they can hack into your folders and steal your passwords, or simply try and track you back to your real-life location. Even worse, these cookies could contain viruses that are planted directly on to your hard drive, and your virus scanner might not even recognize it. These can either be installed to try and steal identifying data about you, or simply with malicious intent to crash your system.