How to stop Google and FB from spying on you

Last week , WSJ revealed that Google and some advertising firms were spying on Safari users by using tracking cookies and tricking Apple’s popular Internet browser. HTTP  cookies — a perfectly legitimate mode of collection information about browsing — pose a big problem for Internet users and their privacy when they are used as Google was using them. According to the Journal story, Google used a code to trick Safari into allowing more cookies which then tracked what users were browsing for online. Google, went on the offensive and said that the WSJ story was just misleading and not really representative of what Google does with the information it collects. Now, this Google’s cookiegate, (seriously why are people not calling it that already?) has become bigger with Microsoft jumping in to this tale of  user privacy violations, by proving that Google did the same with Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer. [caption id=“attachment_220296” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Microsoft logo in this file photo. Reuters”]  [/caption] According to a blogpost on  Windows Internet Explorer Engineering Team Blog,

“By default, IE blocks third-party cookies unless the site presents a  P3P Compact Policy Statement indicating how the site will use the cookie and that the site’s use does not include tracking the user. Google’s P3P policy causes Internet Explorer to accept Google’s cookies even though the policy does not state Google’s intent.”

Google’s defense statement is once again quite aggressive and doesn’t bode well at a time when it’s privacy policy is under the scanner.  The search giant responded saying P3P Company policy is outdated and it doesn’t subscribe to that anymore. To quote BusinessInsider, "

Under the guise of transparency, Google is actually bypassing a privacy setting put in place by a major competitor." Sneaky!

For more on how P3P blocks cookies, you can read this detailed paper here which explains exactly how Google is getting information. But Google isn’t the only one making such transgressions. According to ZDNet, Facebook is also ignoring IE’s privacy settings. The problem is that most websites consider P3p formulated in 2002 to be dead and therefore are circumventing it with ease. It’s quite an imbroglio. IE says that Google is violating it’s privacy settings, Google simply claims that they don’t really honour that policy anymore. Using cookies to track browsing habits is not exactly a new controversy. More is likely to be reported on this issue in the coming weeks as everyone seems to be up in arms about how tech companies are appropriating their information. Meanwhile here are some steps you can take if you would rather keep your browsing information to yourself. 1) If you’re not exactly paranoid, all you need to do is delete cookies from time to time from your browser data to ensure  that cookies aren’t sitting there and collecting your information from the beginning of time. 2) If you’re really over-the top about this security business, choose private browsing. Firefox and Safari come with an option of private browsing which ensures that there are no cookies, or temporary files to trace what you browse through online. In Chrome, just to confuse you, private browsing is called “open an Incognito Window.” 3) Block pop-ups because they can singlehandedly take the fun out of browsing.