However, your evening takes a frustrating turn. As you are browsing the news online, you are irked to see advertisements for the exact coffee grinder you have just bought. In fact, these ads seem to follow you everywhere online – from website to website, even in your email inbox, all showcasing the same coffee-related item.
Since the grinder is already on its way, these ads are nothing but a nuisance. Worse still, they are a privacy invasion! Imagine if your partner glances over your shoulder or uses your computer. They would quickly notice the persistent focus on this particular item. It wouldn't take long for them to connect the dots about their upcoming Christmas surprise. That's the last thing you want.
In a bid to escape these revealing ads, you spend the rest of your evening diving into various other internet topics, hoping to replace those giveaway ads with something less revealing about your carefully chosen gift…
Is there a way to have avoided this situation? The encouraging answer: yes, there is. Read on to the end!
Why are these ads stalking me?
Well, mainly because you have allowed the website to collect ‘tracking cookies’. Cookies are text files with small pieces of data (information) that are used to identify your computer as you use a network.
- Cookies identify you when you visit a new website.
- Cookies are used to remember your logins, so you won’t have to log on at every website visit.
- Cookies remember what is stored in your shopping cart (while you continue browsing the website).
Cookies are useful: they maintain session information and remember settings and preferences. Without cookies, you would have to refill your Christmas shopping cart should you accidentally close the page.
What are tracking cookies?
🍪 Tracking cookies are a special type of cookie that can be shared by more than one website or service. The data that the cookie collects from the browser is stored on the websites you visit. Among the data that cookies can collect, are your age, gender, location, interests, and the way you use search engines.
🍪 Third-party cookies are cookies that are set by a website other than the one you are currently on. Third-party cookies track your activity and display advertisements based on your browsing activity. The ads are not only displayed on one website, but also across multiple other sites that you may visit later.
The solution: browse incognito!
Most mainstream web browsers offer a way to make sure your quest for Christmas presents stays secret: private or incognito browsing. This feature is common in browsers like Google Chrome (Incognito mode), Mozilla Firefox (Private Window), Apple's Safari (Private Browsing), Microsoft Edge (InPrivate mode), and Opera (Private mode).
It is worth noting that the effectiveness and privacy level of "incognito" or "private" modes can vary between browsers. These modes generally prevent the browser from storing browsing history, cookies, and site data during the private session, but they do not make a user's activity invisible to websites visited, their internet service provider, or if applicable, their employer.
Private browsing will, however, prevent websites from chasing you with targeted advertising, and thus help you keep your presents a surprise. Merry Christmas!
Set Private Mode in your favourite browser
Here are the URLs for the support pages of the five most common web browsers, where they explain how to set up or use their incognito or private browsing modes:
