It's unfortunate that I missed this the first time around.

Anyone using or used to use Duckduckgo? Any good? I'm going to give it a shot and compare it to Google for a bit.

To address what I think John's question above is, duckduckgo, hasn't reinvented the wheel with searching, they run searches on Yahoo, Bing, etc... and then just proxy the answers for you. It's like a filter/proxy for you to get to other search engines. It'll add a tiny bit of time to your questions getting answered, but if it gets you better results.

I've supposedly turned off Google keeping track of my stuff and feeding me the answers that it thinks I want, but who knows how successful that really is since they can do it whether you're logged into them or just hitting them cold on a computer/tablet/phone that they have a digital fingerprint of.

News sites, local newspapers, etc... (nytimes.com, cnn.com, huffingtonpost.com) are the worst. I use Firefox with noscript and adblock plus. If I pull up one of those sites with IE and then pull the same site up with FF with those two extensions, the page loads SOOO much faster in FF because I've killed all of the extra crap. If I had to search the web without being able to disable all of that crap, I'd probably go mad.

Whitehat Aviator is a great solution.

I'm a relatively bright guy with a good education. But when I read threads like this I hear a lot of white noise in my ears.

Now you've done it! Expect to get a few pop-up ads for battling tinnitus! :D

Have they fixed the problems?

Avoid Aviator browser if you care about security and privacy, Google warns | ZDNet

"They" don't fix anything, it's community source and it's built well. I run my own version. The second Google makes a stink about anything it's worth looking at.

Relax, just did a quick search because I'm always looking for new stuff that's good and is secure and the first result that I got was that the thing had several major vulnerabilities. I love independent open source type stuff. Often it's better than the stuff the big boys put out.

There was something going on last night about 2 AM EDT. The PPOT page would load, but if you clicked on a threat title the site crashed. It happened several times.

I find this thread amusing, as some people only focus on getting rid of seeing the adds, when the topic is about collecting info. SmileWavy

The amount of data stored is pretty amazing, checked out concert tickets on an Ipod Touch that 6months ago had logged onto my facebook.

Back to PC when home, oh, hey, add for the concert.

Some of the plugins that were mentioned block the collection of info by blocking the ads.

For you Facebook users, I recommend the FB Purity plugin to cut down on the garbage FBshovels at your computer: F.B. Purity - Clean up and Customize Facebook

These threads have come up before. Use a JS blocking tool like 'NoScript' and only whitelist domains you trust/know. Temporary permissions to allow site functionality.

Then run a plugin like Ghostery.

In regards to 'cookieless tracking': Lucb1e.com :: Cookieless Cookies

ETag has been around for some time. I work with data providers to have a robust retargeting/remarketing product set. It works. But we look at the demographic/behavior data - not specific shopper info.

All our clients want 'shopper info'. If they convert, they're giving you their info. We don't want it due to privacy concerns. You get it? Your job to secure it - not ours.

it happens in minutes if not seconds. If I look at fly line on eBay and then go to F book, there is an ad from eBay about fly line almost instantly. I have just learned to ignore it. There is an ad for Orvis fishing gear at the top of this pelican page as well...

^^
I made a post here about identifying fake NGK spark piugs. In minutes Google popped up an ad about "buy fake NGK spark plugs here."
I've been playing with search terms like "Slap yo mamma!" and I get ads for "Buy slap yo mamma here!"
It's just insane. No intelligence applied AT ALL. It's just cheap, blast everybody, marketing. I guess if placing the ad is cheap enough you can afford a .0000000000001 response rate

That happened to me a few years back: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/708975-im-little-freaked-out-internet.html?highlight=freaked
(Verizon internet which I am still using unfortunately)

I'm guessing that scripts or not, the website(or more likely the internet provider itself) is sending the clicks to a third party tracker company, who sold your info to the website of the next click.

Verizon is now known to use cookie-less trackers, and they are probably not alone.

Does Pelican Parts get paid for blocked ads?

It gets ridiculous:
http://www.my7minutesite.com/list-273-of-the-most-expensive-keywords-in-google-adwords
Keyword-----------------Monthly Searches------------Average Cost per Click
car insurance quotes----110,000------------------------$70.03
(We all pay for this nonsense, btw)