What is Ghostery?
Ghostery is a browser tool available for Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. It scans the page for scripts, pixels, and other elements and notifies the user of the companies whose code is present on the page. These page elements aren't otherwise visible to the user, and often not detailed in the page source code. Ghostery allows users to learn more about these companies and their practices, and block the page elements from loading if the user chooses.
Ghostery isn't available for my favorite browser. Are there plans to provide it?
Currently, a Ghostery extension for Safari is in development. No other browser extensions are on the roadmap, but we welcome suggestions.
Will Ghostery affect my browser performance?
Ghostery initiates a scan and decision for several types of page elements, and in some cases, this scan may represent a slight increase in page load times. However, if users choose to block page scripts, our lab research suggests that pages load faster on average.
Ghostery is owned by Better Advertising. What is Better Advertising?
Better Advertising is a new type of company that brings trust to online advertising by working as an intermediary between consumers, advertisers, industry self-regulatory programs, and government. Better Advertising helps consumers protect their privacy and keep quality content ad-supported and free. Neither Better Advertising nor any third party on their behalf is involved in the collection or sale of any data, behavioral or otherwise, for use in ad targeting. Better Advertising is not an advertising network or behavioral data collection service.
Better Advertising provides technology that allows the online advertising industry to be more transparent in how they collect and use consumer data. In turn, they give consumers more control over their privacy online. We strongly believe that making disclosure more transparent will raise the quality of the entire online advertising industry by enabling advertisers to grow and innovate.
We realize that this is an ambitious mission. There's going to be an acclimation period as people discover our service in the market and come to understand what we represent. We are a group of individuals from the privacy and technology fields, who believe very strongly that while advertising is here to stay - it powers the vast network of free information con sumers rely on - it should not come at the price of an individual's right to privacy.
Click here to learn more about Better Advertising's services. Also, check out what Better Advertising's Founder Scott Meyer has to say about the company's mission and how it relates to Ghostery.
Ghostery is a free plug in. Is that going to change?
Ghostery will remain a free, non-commerical service. There are no plans to create a version of Ghostery that requires user payment.
How will Better Advertising's acquisition of Ghostery benefit Ghostery users?
Ghostery now has a full-time team dedicated to adding new features and answering your questions. You can reach the Ghostery team with questions or feedback at info@ghostery.com. Your feedback also will enable us to continue building out Ghostery's capabilities in order to give users more transparency and control. Better Advertising is committed to an aggressive series of Ghostery releases that increase performance and add new features. With the help of the Ghostery community, we can create the web's most capable and comprehensive user privacy tool.
Is my data safe? What is Better Advertising going to do with it?
Ghostery users are anonymous. If you elect to download the Ghostery plug in, you'll note there are no registrations or sign ups required. The Ghostery plug-in does not place cookies into your browser. Neither the Ghostery application nor Better Advertising receives any data from Ghostery users unless the user opts-in to participate in GhostRank. In that case, data is collected in aggregate form and without any personal information, for research and industry monitoring purposes (more on GhostRank below). GhostRank data is never used for advertising targeting purposes. GhostRank is a true opt-in feature - all the other features of Ghostery are fully available whether or not GhostRank is enabled.
Ghostery's dedication to user privacy is capture in the Ghostery Browser Tool Privacy Policy.
What data does Better Advertising receive from users who opt-in to GhostRank?
When a user opts-in to GhostRank, we have access to the following information:
- Bugs identified by Ghostery
- Bugs blocked by Ghostery
- Number of times the bug has been identified
- Domains identified as serving bugs
- Advertisements served at particular domains, including companies associated with each ad
- Information about the type of notice associated with each ad
- The browser in which Ghostery has been installed
- Ghostery version information
What does Better Advertising do with GhostRank information?
GhostRank data will never be used target advertising. Better Advertising uses the data from GhostRank to discover new trackers on the internet, view specific performance and use statistics, and follow industry compliance with privacy and choice standards for behavioral advertising. The data also helps us understand where advertisements are served, who is associated with these ads, and whether these ads are compliant with industry self-regulatory programs. We may also use GhostRank data (on an aggregate and anonymous basis) to help us understand how advertisers and their vendors are honoring opt-out requests.
What other services does Better Advertising provide?
Better Advertising is something totally new to the online world -- a privacy assurance platform. We put tools for transparency and data use control directly in the hands of consumers, advertisers and the companies who provide the technology to get ads to consumers (advertising agencies, advertising networks, advertising exchanges and publishers). Our focus is to make the interactive advertising industry more transparent and to enable consumers to make informed judgments about the use of their data.
In addition to supporting Ghostery as a consumer service, Better Advertising provides services to the online advertising industry. Better Advertisingís technology will power industry self-regulatory programs. We provide online advertisers and their partners (advertising agencies, networks, exchanges and publishers) with services to simplify their compliance with the Federal Trade Commissionís Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising and the Cross-Industry Coalitionís Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. The Better Advertising platform is built from the ground up with privacy in mind. It provides advertisers tools to disclose to users what information they're collecting and tracking. Furthermore, the platform helps advertisers give consumers the ability to opt out.
The Better Advertising platform is currently in beta launch across the web.
