Stop Yahoo Groups from Stalking You

[dad]

Yahoo is now using something called "Web Beacons" to track Yahoo Group users around the net and see what you're doing and where you are going--similar to cookies. Yahoo is recording every website and every group you visit.
Take a look at their updated privacy statement:
http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy
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. That will bring you to a paragraph entitled "Outside the Yahoo Network."
In this section you'll see a little "click here to opt out" link that will let you "opt-out" of their new method of snooping. Once you have clicked that link, you are exempted.
Notice the "Success" message on the top of the next page. Be careful because on that page there is a "Cancel Opt-out" button that, if clicked, will *undo** the opt-out.

[Angry Girl]

1. Thanks! The Yahoo! bastards are some of the worst with privacy

Without your info nobody would know how to access their opt-out (they are deliberately sneaky about hiding that stuff, which is why I think they're scum.)

[bvar22]

2. I "Opted Out" successfully.

I don't believe them.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Important note ...

This opt-out business is pretty much BS.

As noted in the web beacon(*) description, the opt-out is browser specific, which discloses something rather important without directly saying it. The opt-out itself works by setting a cookie. If you don't allow the cookie to be set, or if you ever delete your cookies, which you should do on a regular basis, this opt-out is pointless unless you want to take the time to do it with every browser on every computer you ever use, on a regular basis if you delete cookies regularly.

(*) This term "web beacon" is a somewhat more palatable term for a web bug. These are typically 1x1 pixel graphics that are either transparent .gif images or blended in with the background. (One pixel is so difficult to notice, I doubt it would matter anyway.) In this and most cases, the image is located on a different server than the one holding the web page you are viewing, which creates a temporary connection with that other server. When this is done, the server holding the web bug, at the very minimum, has a chance to gather information from your browser headers, which will include your IP, browser type, where you linked from, etc. They can also be used in conjunction with cookies that are set at the time you make the connection, and this seems to be the way Yahoo and its partners use them.

FWIW, this process can take place every single time you hit a site that has images located on another server or other links that create a connection. I had a very simple script set up on my website at one time that let me know when others were linking directly to some images on my site and thus chewing up my bandwidth. The amount of info I got was far more than I needed, and just using bits of it I could track down the offending website operator and get him to stop.

I suspect, but do not know for certain, that part of the revenue stream for sites like photobucket, which countless DUers use, is generated by collecting information about browsers viewing the image and selling it to advertisers.

The simplest way to minimize the impact of these information gathering tools is to regularly delete cookies and set your browser to refuse all cookies from websites other than the one you are visiting. You might also consider not allowing your browser to load images from external websites. The potential downside of that, depending on how you view such things, is that on sites like DU, you will not see images others post, including a lot of sig lines, kitty threads, etc. Indeed this is one of the simplest ad blockers in existence since most ads are served in graphic form by external sites.

[Kolesar]

4. I want to start a message board for my activist group

I am sure none of us want intrusion &surveillance as a matter of principle. I was just starting a yahoo group. Now I am wondering if I should have our earnest new webmaster buy &integrate a message board or maybe use some reduced functionality like a blog/web-page with a comments field.

What would you advise? One of my activists is already skeptical about yahoo (even before I read this). Thank you and Earth thanks you.

[RoyGBiv]

5. Bottom line ...

If you want privacy of any sort on your discussion group, avoid Yahoo entirely. People who read it online will be forced to view advertisements. People who get e-mail digests or individual e-mails of each posting will have advertisements appended to those messages. Yahoo reserves the right to censor or cancel your group for any reason. And that's just the start of it.

I would personally avoid all forms of web based discussion forums for the transmittal of information between members of a coherent activist group unless you set it up yourself, maintain it yourself, and know what you are doing with it.

If the size of the group is not too large, I would suggest and old-school approach of using a mailing list or "listserv. " One called "Mailman" is popular. It resides on a server and functions as a re-mailer. Messages are e-mailed to a central address, and the re-mailer resends them to individual members per rules you establish. Someone or some group serves as the list administration and has control over the membership and how the list functions. You can also incorporate use of PGP or GPG to encrypt messages to ensure only those designated to see them can do so or as a relatively simple method of ensuring identity. This solution probably wouldn't be free, but it should be fairly inexpensive. You just need a service provider or hosting company that provides mailman as a service.

[Kolesar]

6. The very-big-organization I am with does host listserves

I may have them set one up for us locals.
That business about Yahoo's reverse-cookie-function creeped me out. If you clear your cookies, you lose privacy. How demented.
edit:thanks, RoyGBiv! They say Every Good Boy Deserves Favor!