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What are the pros and cons of blocking web bugs? I want to know if there are any down sides to blocking them. Will web pages stop working properly? Will free sites start to charge? Can web site tell that I'm blocking bugs?
I checked around for this info but drew a blank. It's left up to the user to decide whether or not to block bugs, but I need to know the reasons for and against.
Thanks!
I’m
undecided
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Hi vadek,
Ghostery allows you to pick and choose which bugs (3rd-party page elements: images, scripts, objects, iframes) to block.
Pros:
* Blocked resources don't get your browser signature (no request tracking).
* Blocked resources won't read or create new cookies (no cookie tracking).
* Blocked resources don't contribute to page loading time (faster pages).
* Blocked scripts don't execute (no undesired functionality like on-hover info tooltips over links or Facebook "like"/Google "+1" buttons).
* Blocked scripts don't execute (improves security: for example, non-https Facebook/Twitter widgets before Firesheep).
Cons:
* Page functionality could break (whitelist the page/unblock the bug as a workaround; Ghostery will in the future provide surrogate scripts to fix certain common cases).
* Web sites can tell when resources that should be there are missing. There have been incidents of sites denying access to AdBlock users, but none concerning Ghostery as far as I know. A workaround would again be to whitelist the page or unblock the responsible bug(s).
* Choosing what to block isn't as easy as it should be. We are working on expanding Ghostery's learning resources and enhancing Ghostery's bug browser.Comment -
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I’m
grateful
Thanks Alexei. Terrific reply which helps enormously. I'm still not sure whether to block or not, but at least I have all the info I need regarding the effects of each option.
Thanks!!-
You're welcome!
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1Thanks for the additional advice, Adam. I'm afraid life's too short to decide on a case by case basis which sites to block or not. I had Ghostery installed once before but (a) it caused big problems with Firefox and (b) I wasn't sure what use it was. Point (a) seems to have been resolved but I'm still not sure whether it's worth having unless you're going to use it to block everything, and that could cause problems with some web sites.
It's worth knowing about these bugs, but once you're aware of them ... ? -
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I’m
yarrped
hi not a computer geek or anything.but i dont like any body watching me,ubless i look kool and they are paying me,yarp- view 2 more comments
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Do I need to quote Potter Stewart as well? ;-)
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Hi John,
We break down the almost 1000 trackers into five categories on Firefox Ghostery's options page, which should help with picking what to block. We plan to continue categorizing and cataloging our tracker library to aid blocking decisions.
The new options interface is on the way for all other versions of Ghostery. -
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1Hi,
My main question is: Do you offer a list of what NOT to select in your library? ...
I used Ghostery on my old computer and it was a life-saver. I'm installing it now on my new computer, using Google Chrome.
Much as I love Ghostery, it did interfere with several websites in different ways: e.g:
- on some retail sites I wasn't able to see the photos of items,
- on various sites, when I'd click "Submit" after entering my info (to join a mailing list, register for an event, add something to my cart, etc), nothing would happen.
- I couldn't view videos on certain sites
There were other issues like this that would crop up from time to time. I was able to work around these things by pausing Ghostery, or whitelisting the site. However, it would be a big help if you offered a list of what NOT to select in your library to avoid this kind of thing from happening. I browsed around a little to see if you offer such a list but didn't find anything yet.
Thanks very much,
Maureen
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Do you offer a list of suggested items NOT to select in your library?.-
"Yes, but..."
Such a list exists, although one really shouldn't be necessary.
What's on that list changes over time.
Acceptance = failure. You want the list to shrink, not to grow.
Ghostery uses "tricks" like script surrogation to try to hide the fact that a lot of sites are built like a house of cards. Sometimes the breakage is too extensive for Ghostery to repair.
Responsibility for fixing this situation needs to lie on the shoulders of website producers, not pushed onto consumers (who are mostly powerless to do anything, beyond "vote with their wallets").
There's a Purple Box article about why Ghostery exposes the ugliness: http://purplebox.ghostery.com/?p=1016...
Until the providers change their ways, there's going to be a list. It's our "hall of shame," because it represents cases where we've let the bad guys win.
The list isn't intended for human consumption; it's machine-readable. The current release of Ghostery for Chrome (4.1.1) doesn't use it. Future versions might.
https://www.ghostery.com/update/compa...
You can help by letting us know what isn't working for you (be sure to provide URLs!); we can't address issues we don't know about. There's a topic specifically for this purpose: https://getsatisfaction.com/ghostery/... — or you can just start a new topic, and it will get merged in if appropriate.
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CHAMP
