Helping You Tame Your Access Technology » Feed - Wednesday, November 20, 2019
at 2:48 PM
Trim the Fat From Those Ads with a Few Tips
We all hate ads, right? Unless you work for an ad’s agency… Uh, you may want to
stop reading now. 😊 While ads do help make things free for us consumers, if you
use access technology, finding an ad directly in the middle of your content,
interrupting your reading flow, is frustrating to say the least. Today I’m
going to show you some ways to somewhat stem the ad torrent on browsers and on
YouTube. All of my solutions today will be free. I may write up a part 2 if
there is interest.
Digital Advertising alliances Choice Tool for the Web
YourAdChoices.com is a website that enables you to opt out of interest-based
ads. Below is some info from the website about what they do to help you control
ads on the web. I have filtered down the info so that it isn’t too much, but
it’s still a lot. If you think the below info is TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read),
and you just want to start blocking ads, then start blocking ads now.
When you hit the above link, the website will take some time to check your
browser settings. This really can take a few minutes. When it reaches 100%, hit
the Continue button.
Next, you will want to find the Opt Out Of All button. The next page loads and
you will find the following text:
Your opt-out choices are being requested from participating companies. This may
take a few minutes
You will also have a progress bar showing the opt out process. When it is done,
you will get something like the following:
Opt out requests for 30 participating companies were successfully completed for
this browser.
Remember that you can do this on each browser, such as Firefox, Chrome, and
Edge. You should also do this on mobile browsers on smartphones. You should now
notice a decrease in ads, but they won’t be completely gone. 😞 Check below for
more info on opting out of ads in this way.
About The DAA Program
What is the DAA Self-Regulatory Program?
The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) is an independent not-for-profit
organization which establishes and enforces responsible privacy practices for
relevant digital advertising, while giving consumers information and control
over the types of digital advertising they receive. The DAA runs the
YourAdChoices program and its WebChoices and mobile AppChoices consumer choice
tools. The DAA also runs the PoliticalAds program, which is designed to
increase transparency and accountability around digital express advocacy ads.
The DAA Self-Regulatory Program applies to data collection and use for
interest-based advertising in the United States and its territories. For
information regarding programs in other nations and regions, please visit
sister organizations, respectively:
Argentina
Canada
European Union/European Economic Area
To what data collection and use practices do the DAA Program apply?
The DAA has issued the following Principles and related Guidance:
The DAA’s Principles apply to interest-based advertising (sometimes called
online behavioral advertising) and other applicable uses of Web-viewing and
application use data collected from a particular computer or device over time
and across different, unaffiliated Websites and apps. For interest-based
advertising, the applicable Principles address the areas of education,
transparency, consumer control, data security, changes to existing policies,
sensitive data and accountability for interest-based advertising, and
transparency and accountability for digital political advertising. The DAA’s
Principles and guidance also address transparency and control for precise
location data and personal directory data. They also apply to data collection
for interest-based advertising purposes across devices.
What is interest-based advertising?
Interest-based advertising (IBA) – which is also sometimes called “online
behavioral advertising” – uses information gathered about your visits over time
and across different websites or applications in order to help predict your
preferences and show you ads that are more likely to be of interest to you. For
example, a sporting goods manufacturer might work with an advertising network
that collects and uses interest-based advertising information to deliver ads to
the browsers of users that have recently visited sports-related sites, or an
airline might direct ads to users that recently visited mobile travel apps.
How does interest-based advertising work?
When a user visits a website or uses an app that works with an advertising
network or other online advertising companies, these advertising companies
gather information about the user’s browser or device in order to tell when
that same user browser or device visits other websites or apps within the same
network – even if these content offerings are run by different companies or
have different web addresses or brands. Over time, the information gathered
about the browser or device may help predict the user’s likely interest in
particular categories of ads: for example, users who frequently visit
baseball-related websites might receive more ads for the “baseball/sports
enthusiast” category, or users who engage with automobile review apps might
receive more ads for the particular models of cars that interest them. This
inferred interest category is used to provide advertising relevant to the
category to a particular browser or device.
What are the benefits of interest-based advertising for me?
The most important benefit of interest-based advertising is the free Internet
itself. For example, many non-subscription websites and online services rely on
this type of advertising for revenue, so they do not have to charge users for
the content they provide or otherwise subsidize the cost for providing content
and services. When you check the news or the weather online, scan your favorite
entertainment site or blog, play a free online game or app, or watch a popular
TV show or music video on your computer, you are seeing the consumer benefits
of online advertising at work.
Put another way, advertising is the financial engine that powers most of the
free websites and apps. Interest-based advertising is a significant part of
that economic model. Without interest-based advertising, some free websites,
apps and services might have to start charging their users or increasing fees,
and others would not be able to continue delivering innovative online services.
In fact, Americans assigned a value of nearly $1,200 per year to the array of
free, ad-supported services and content currently available to them on
computers and mobile devices, according to a survey conducted by Zogby
Analytics.
There’s another benefit of interest-based advertising for users as well: more
relevant ads. When advertisers use interest-based advertising tools, you get
ads that are more interesting, relevant, and useful to you. If you’re a college
student, for example, then you might be more interested in seeing ads for
spring break destinations than for retirement homes. If you like musicals, then
you might want a ticket offer for a new show and not to the ballet. Those
relevant ads improve the online experience and help users find things that
interest them more easily.
What types of information do companies use to advertise to me online?
In addition to interest-related information, online advertising companies may
use information about users’ general location, such as their city or ZIP Code,
so that they can market products of most interest to a particular region (snow
shovels to residents of northern states, for example), or help local
advertisers reach their customers.
Advertising companies may also use demographic information, such as age, gender
or occupation provided during registration for access and use of a site, or
they can attempt to infer such information based on the general demographics of
visitors to a particular site. They may separately use the data they have
collected online to make additional predictions about users’ interests or
backgrounds, or they may combine their data with related information from other
sources.
A typical set of information associated with a user’s web browser might include:
Gender: Male
Age range: 25-34
Geography: Washington DC metro area
Interested in baseball
Interested in travel to Europe
Car shopper
Some advertising companies give users access to the categories of information
associated with users’ browsers, so users can edit that information to make it
more useful and accurate.
What can I do if I don’t want to receive interest-based advertising?
You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from the companies
participating in the DAA program’s “WebChoices” consumer choice tool, which is
available in versions for desktop and mobile browsers. DAA also offers a
separate choice tool – “AppChoices” — for the collection of cross-app data on a
mobile device for interest-based advertising and other applicable uses. To
exercise choice for companies participating in this choice tool, you can
install the DAA’s AppChoices app. Some companies participating in the DAA may
also provide profile management tools. Please follow the company link from the
listing within the WebChoices or AppChoices tools to explore these additional
controls.
After you opt out using WebChoices or AppChoices, the participating companies
will no longer collect, use, or transfer information about activity on your
browser or device, respectively, for the purpose of interest-based advertising
or any other applicable data practice covered by the DAA Principles. They may,
however, continue to serve online advertising on the pages or apps you visit
that is not dependent on information about your online interests and may
continue to use data for purposes other than interest-based advertising such as
operational purposes, fraud prevention, and analytics.
Browsers and mobile operating systems also provide other privacy mechanisms. We
encourage you to review the privacy control settings available in your browser
or device platforms settings. Note that some of these controls (such as
settings that block first or third-party cookies) may impede the storage of
your WebChoices opt-out preferences and may need to be reset to accept such
cookies, as you use the WebChoices tool to opt-out, to honor your opt-out
requests successfully.
About DAA’s WebChoices: what it does – and doesn’t – do
How does DAA’s “WebChoices” consumer choice tool work?
Companies that engage in interest-based advertising are required to provide
consumers with an easy-to-use mechanism for exercising choice about the
collection and use of information covered by the DAA’s Principles.
WebChoices gathers together in one place the opt-out mechanisms provided by
participating companies, offering visitors a “one-stop” platform through which
to opt out from the collection of Web-viewing data for interest-based
advertising and other applicable uses, by some or all participating companies.
WebChoices also provides useful information about visitors’ browser status with
respect to interest-based advertising, including information about which
participating companies are already customizing ads for a user’s browser.
WebChoices does not, however, provide information about advertising companies
that do not participate in the DAA Program, or provide opt outs to any form of
advertising provided by these non-participating companies.
The DAA separately provides the AppChoices app for consumers to control data
collected and used across apps on mobile devices by DAA companies participating
in that tool.
Will WebChoices block me from receiving any web-based ads or email
advertisements?
No. The opt-outs available through the WebChoices tool apply to interest-based
advertising and other applicable uses of web-viewing data by the DAA’s
participating companies. The opt out choices do not apply to other types of ads
provided by these companies, or carry over to ads displayed in mobile apps (for
which the DAA’s AppChoices tool may be used instead for the companies
participating in that tool).
For example, even after opting out of interest-based advertising from a
participating company, a user may still receive other types of advertising from
that company, including ads selected on the basis of the content of the web
page (“contextual” ads), or other types of information (for example,
demographic or general computer browser location information).
The opt-out choices provided through WebChoices and AppChoices do not apply to
electronic email (or “spam”), postal mail, or pop-ups.
Furthermore, opt-out choices via WebChoices are browser- and device-specific,
and users seeking to control interest-based advertising on other browsers and
devices should repeat WebChoices use on each browser and device they use.
To learn more about how particular websites or applications collect or use data
for other types of advertising, users should review the privacy policies of the
websites and apps that they visit.
What are opt-out cookies and how do they remember opt-out preferences?
Many online companies use cookies to remember users’ preferences about the
collection and use of data. These “opt-out cookies” help the participating
companies to “recognize” users who have opted out through the DAA Program, and
to respect that choice.
When a user exercises choice, those companies place an “opt-out” cookie in the
user’s browser to tell the company not to deliver such advertising in future.
Opt-out cookies storing such preferences that are placed by companies
participating in the DAA Program have a minimum five-year lifespan, and remain
in effect for the user’s browser unless these opt-out cookies are deleted (as
can happen if users deletes all of their cookies using browser tools). Users
should visit WebChoices periodically to review or update their browser
preferences or to set preferences for new participating companies.
To prevent accidental deletion of your opt out preferences, the DAA offers a
variety of browser extensions to protect your choices. To download and install
the available browser extensions, please visit the DAA’s Protect My Choices
page.
Browser settings such as those that blocks third party or first party cookies
interfere with your ability set an opt out cookie. If you would like to use
WebChoices to state your preferences against companies participating in this
tool, set your browser to accept third party and first party cookies.
Does opting out stop participating companies from collecting any data?
No. Opting out for a particular browser tells the participating companies to
stop engaging in interest-based advertising and other applicable data practices
under the DAA Program. Advertisements not based on interest data – including
those based on general location or registration data – will continue to be
delivered to the browser.
After you opt out, participating companies and the Websites you visit may
continue to collect and use information for other purposes. For example,
participating companies may still collect and use advertising data to measure
the number of ads served for a particular campaign, to limit the number of
times a particular ad is served to a unique browser, for security, or to
prevent fraud. In some cases, automated systems will continue to collect other
data about browser visits but that data should no longer be used to deliver
interest-based advertising to the user.
In addition, data may be collected and used by participating companies and
Websites for a variety of purposes unrelated to advertising, including the
operation of online products and services, or where the data has or will within
a reasonable period of time from collection go through a de-identification
process.
Will WebChoices work if my browser is set to block cookies?
No. Your browser must be set to accept third-party cookies in order WebChoices
to properly display status results and to set opt-out preferences for your
browser. The following links show how to adjust the browser settings of
commonly used browsers:
Safari and Firefox browser users may experience default settings that currently
interfere with how cookies work, and must first reset to accept cookies before
using WebChoices. This includes the opt-out cookies set by the WebChoices tool
for participating companies. To set your choices preferences successfully
through WebChoices while using Safari, please go to your device’s settings and
tap the following: “Safari > Preferences > Privacy”; and uncheck “Prevent
cross-site tracking.” After you change this setting, go back to WebChoices and
run the tool again.
Does using WebChoices on one device or browser set preferences for every
computer or device that I use?
No. The opt-out preferences set by WebChoices are associated with the browser
and device that you use to set those preferences, not with all the browsers and
devices that you use collectively as an individual. When you use a different
browser, or a different device, you will need to revisit WebChoices to review
your status and set your preferences for that browser and device. In addition,
for apps in the mobile environment, you will need to separately set preferences
for each different device you use. Please visit our AppChoices tool for
cross-app data collection choice.
Additionally, there are cross-device protections when using WebChoices (or
AppChoices). Setting a WebChoices opt-out on a particular device or browser
does prevent data collection on that device or browser for interest-based
advertising from being used on another device or browser elsewhere.
Additionally, data collected on other devices or browsers for interest-based
advertising may not be applied on any device or browser where a WebChoices (or
AppChoices) opt-out has been applied.
I’ve set my preferences using AppChoices – why am I still seeing ads inside
apps?
AppChoices is designed to halt cross-app data collection to serve
interest-based ads. In place of interest-based ads, generic ads are served so
that the app content you are accessing can be paid for by advertising.
How to Use the DAA’s WebChoices Consumer Choice Tool (Video)
The following video will help explain how to use WebChoices. For those who
would rather read a step-by-step tutorial, you may jump here.
How to Use the DAA’s WebChoices Consumer Choice Tool (Tutorial)
The WebChoices Consumer Choice Tool allows you to choose whether or not you
receive interest-based advertising from companies participating in the
Self-Regulatory Program. You can (1) learn which participating companies have
currently enabled customized ads for your browser; (2) make choices about the
collection of Web viewing data for interest-based advertising and other
applicable uses under the DAA Principles, from some or all participating
WebChoices companies; and (3) find out which companies have already set an
opt-out cookie in your browser. You may choose to opt-out from one or more
participating companies, or opt out from all participating companies with a
single click.
The Initial Experience: Landing Page and Processes
Opting Out: Your Choices and Step-by-Step Instructions
The Final Step: Requesting Opt Outs
Unavailable Statuses, Incomplete Requests, and What You Can Do About Them
1. The Initial Experience: Landing Page and Processes
When you visit WebChoices, you will see an image similar to the one below
showing that the tool is performing an initial check of your browser for
quality of connectivity and cookie permissions:
WebChoices checks your browser settings and your computer to identify: (1)
whether first-party and third-party cookies are enabled; (2) which
participating companies, if any, are currently customizing ads for your
browser; and (3) the participating companies, if any, for which you’ve already
set an opt out. After the status check completes, you’ll see the following,
with results specific for your browser:
At this point, you may optionally click on an individual company participating
in the tool to see (1) if they are currently customizing ads on your browser;
(2) the availability of an opt-out of data collection for interest-based
advertising purposes; (3) the use of either or both cookie and non-cookie
technology to enable interest-based advertising tailored for your browser; (4)
a short description of the company; and (5) the ability to click on and inspect
the company’s privacy policy in a new tab.
2 Opting Out: Your Choices and Step-by-Step Instructions
a. Opting Out of Individual Companies
Once the status check is complete you’ll see the “Customizing Ads For Your
Browser” column, which shows the participating companies that have currently
enabled interest-based ads for your browser, indicated by “Yes” and “No.” The
column on the left – “Company” – shows all the participating companies in this
cross-industry program in alphabetical order. The column on the right – “Opt
Out?” – shows which participating companies have already set an opt-out setting
for your browser.
You can click on a company’s name to learn more about its practices. To opt out
from one or more participating companies, simply check the box corresponding to
the company’s name and click on the “Submit your choices” button. If a check
mark appears in “Opt Out?” column, an opt-out setting from that company has
already been set for your browser.
b. Opting Out of All Companies with a Single Click
If you prefer to set an opt-out preference under the DAA Principles for all
participating companies, then you may click the “OPT OUT OF ALL” button located
at the bottom of the pane.
3. The Final Step: Requesting Opt Outs
When you click on the “SUBMIT YOUR CHOICES” or “OPT OUT OF ALL” button, a
similar image to the following will appear:
This indicates WebChoices processing your opt-out requests in real time. Once
your opt-out request(s) are submitted to the participating companies, an
overlay box will indicate whether or not all of your opt-out requests completed
successfully.
WebChoices makes it easy to find out about participating companies that provide
interest-based advertising, and to make choices about whether to receive these
types of ads in your browser.
4. Unavailable Statuses, Incomplete Requests, and What You Can Do About Them
Users of WebChoices will sometimes receive messages indicating that status
information for one or more participating companies is not available, or that
one or more opt-out requests were not completed. In either case, repeating the
request may address the issue – since the opt-out requests are happening in
real time: you can refresh the WebChoices tool to re-check for status, or use
“TRY AGAIN” to repeat your opt-out request(s) for some or all companies. Status
and opt-out issues that involve a significant number of participating companies
may indicate that your browser or its settings are affecting the opt-out
process.
If the status of one or more companies is listed as unavailable, then you will
see a version of the following image specific to your browser:
You can click on “More Information” for more information about interest-based
advertising. You can also see the companies for which status information was
not completed by reviewing the top of the company listing at the “Company”
column. You can also see which opt-out requests were not completed on the
WebChoices landing page, if any, by inspecting for unchecked boxes under the
“Opt Out?” column.
For more detailed information about the Status Check and Incomplete Opt Outs,
including computer and software requirements, and warnings, click “Need help?”
Blocking Do Not Track Requests in Your Browser
In most browsers, within Settings, under Privacy and/or Security, you will have
an option called Do Not Track. I would highly recommend turning on this
setting. This tells your browser to notify websites that you do not want to be
tracked throughout the internet. Imagine the nerve! 😖 Again, you will need to
do this on each browser.
Read Mode
Another option that can often be used to hide ads is Read Mode. Most browsers
either have Read Mode built-in or have an extension that can enable it. So,
what is Read Mode?
This is a mode in the browser that makes it easier to read a web page that has
an article or blog post. For people that rely on access technology, it’s extra
great, because it strips out distractions on the page, such as extra menus and
links that are not central to the article. Read Mode sometimes enlarges the
text, and/or provides buttons to enlarge the text, change the color, or even
read the page to you.
If you use Firefox, use F9 to get into read mode. If you use Edge, use
CONTROL+SHIFT+R. Chrome has a few extensions that can enable read mode.
Hopefully soon, Chrome will also have a dedicated read mode in the browser. If
this already exists and I missed it, please let me know and I’ll update this
article.
Ads in YouTube
There really isn’t a neat trick in YouTube to block ads automatically… Unless
you pay YouTube. 😏 However, when you notice an ad playing in YouTube, try to
find the Skip Ad button. It doesn’t always appear, and it doesn’t show up
instantly as soon as an ad starts playing, but if you’re using a screen reader,
you can press the letter B to jump by buttons and find it. As soon as it’s
pressed, the ad will be skipped and you can once again enjoy your tube.
Happy Ad Culling
I really hope you can use this article to help stop some of those irritating
ads. I would also like to thank George for suggesting this article. Please feel
free to suggest articles that you want me to write up for you by contacting me.
Qapla!
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David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info
