Thanks to behavioral ad tracking, the image of the Modern Claddagh Ring followed me everywhere on the Internet for days, and the same yarn stores advertise at me everywhere I turn. How can you avoid this fate if you don’t want to use ad-blocking plugins, and still want (or need) to accept cookies?

For a great but easy-to-understand explanation of how the technology behind advertising works and why you should consider opting out of it, check out this great Lifehacker article.

Two places to start are the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page and the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. Both let you add cookies to your browser that allow you to opt out of behavioral tracking. The ads you see will become a lot more boring, but also a lot less creepy.

What “Do Not Track” Is and Why It’s Important [Lifehacker] (via Business Insider)
NAI Opt-out Tool [NAI]
Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising

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