Hello, everyone!
I am a recent convert to the DuckDuckGo browser and search engine as they do no tracking and alert you when others do. This browser informs me that (probably the web hosting service of) Top Shelf has no less than seven trackers at play, including two major ones. I have attached the information shown. I don’t wish to make waves or accusations, but privacy concerns are so vital to us all that I was compelled to share. I hope the attached photo makes it! Overall, Top shelf does get a letter grade of B (seems to have upgraded from C) but it’s always best to be informed.
Comments
you are forgetting something
The ADVERTISEMENTS have tracking built in for being able to earn BC money.
and google includes tracking themselves to help tailor ads to your interests.
these would be both of the major tracking sets.
the always on service will have their own to help them predict usage trends and also to charge for any over use of data transfer.
not all tracking is for nefarious purposes.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Exactly!
We have at least two ad trackers onsite. One of them is our own and one is Amazon's for the books we sell. Of the ads we sell, two of them likely contain their own trackers. We have two traffic monitors also to keep track of the servers and the load on them.
If being tracked bothers you, it's easy enough to use something like Duck, Duck, Go to block them. We don't mind. But we really could not run the site without some trackers.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Understood
Mona still provides a useful notification.
It is up to the individual user to decide whether the tracking is a sensitive issue or not and not get pooh poohed for it.
I object on general principles and opt for greater privacy but is limited by the iPad I use to surf as to what I can do on one browser alone.
I also donate enough to support BC that I don’t feel guilty about it so to me, maybe it might provide more motivation for folks to donate more to rid the need for tracking.
yup
I don't worry about tracking on most sites I visit, specially since even isps have full logs of everything you do online so you have no real anonymity.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
BCTS isn't like most web
BCTS isn't like most web sites as the girls don't shut one out if one's browser isn't accepting cookies or allowing java script to run. It is very common for me to open up a site and it be nothing but a blank screen. They want to lay tracking cookies on my computer and won't run without java being enabled.
I find Erin and the girls to be more than accommodating by allowing "guests" to view the site and the stories without logging in. I know because I was one of those guest as I had to switch computers. And if you're not crazy about the sites tracking you, then look into what your own browser and email is doing. I'm running a twelve year old browser and you would not believe the amount of data it does NOT serve out to the web compared to the latest and greatest web browsers. Even your phone tattles on you and makes note of every where you go besides who calls you and who you call. I carry a twenty one year old cell phone. They can ping and track it but that'[s it. Well besides incoming and outgoing calls.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out spying on yuh!
always
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Unfortunately, in the US, it
Unfortunately, in the US, it is _illegal_ to have a phone that has the GPS functionality disabled. That is, the internal tracking for 911 support. The phone providers are forbidden to activate an old phone that doesn't have it, for example.
So, if you don't want to be trackable, don't carry a phone with a battery installed.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Actually...
I carry a flip phone, when I expect to need it. Otherwise it's turned off, in the glove compartment of my car. I very much doubt that it has any GPS capability. My understanding it that 911 and other services track the tower it is connected to (when it's on), and not GPS. Of course, usually GPS would get them closer to the actual location, but I've never seen GPS on any non-Smart phone.
Start Page has a very high
Start Page has a very high rating for privacy (www.startpage.com), particularly if you are getting plagued with adverts via your normal search engine. It has a good search filter facility - unlike a number of mainstream search engines who seem to have 'lost' theirs.
Totally Agree
I've been using StartPage as my browser home page for at least three years. If its results are not good enough, I open up a private window and go to Google. That's the only time I use the Chocolate Factory Search engine.
What bothers me is the Amazon tracker. I'm trying to wean myself off of amazon so I'm not particularly happy about feeding my browsing of this site to them.
Samantha
Get NoScript, and selectively
Get NoScript, and selectively allow things. Amazon AdSystem isn't allowed on my computer. I do donate money, and I'm certain it's more than they'd made off of the amazon ads and cookies in any case.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I have noScript.
Had it for years along with a Ublock Origin.
however with some of the frameworks that get called several layers down make direct non JavaScript calls to several data slurpers.
I've blocked a lot of them at my home router firewall but new IP addresses are being used all the time just to get around IP blocking.
Wireshark is a lovely tool (but not exactly easy to use) for finding this sort of thing but it all takes time and you have to keep doing it.
I also donate direct to the kitty and have contributed several order of magnitude more than the ad revenue would have been.
Samantha
Really?
And you know this for a fact, backed up by readily accessible data? And you also know what deal Erin has made with the ones that she does allow in; and what the per month payment is she receives?
REALLY?
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
DopplerPress
DopplerPress which exists and lives off of the Amazon links here on BC brings in several thousand a month, a bit less than half of which goes to authors.
Advertising brings in $1500 plus per month, and it was advertising as well as gifts from members that got us past our latest mid-month crisis brought on in part by a hacked bank account that had to be frozen. We aren't using trackers on the site for minor reasons and we don't react to those who want to block them.
If you are logged in, go to your My Account and you can turn off most of the ads on the site. We stipulate this in our contracts with outside advertisers.
Hugs and thanks to all,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Privacy is not really a concern for me
I get a value I treasure highly , a place full of excellent stories for me to read. OK, some are not so excellent, but I live for the gems. Facebook and click baits I am not so happy with The value added just isn't there.