[mhfs]

I agree it’s hard to really stop being tracked but I’ve been trying to become less of an easy target lately. Stopped using gmail as my main email and made duckduckgo my default search engine. Plus the traditional browser extensions.

Far from perfect? Yes. But at least I take some confort from no longer being such a juicy ad target.

[saagarjha]

You may have made yourself a juicer target by doing that, though…

[codeisawesome]

Could you elaborate? I understand the concept of a you-shaped-hole-in-the-graph, when you opt out. But is that what you’re referring to?

[flak48]

It's like knowing that you are a duckduckgogo user/or that you don't like being tracked is also a valid data point for advertisers.

I remember seeing a post yesterday on HN where they mentioned that some ad networks treat the 'Do not Track' preference as an additional data point about your personality instead of simply honoring your preference.

[saagarjha]

It’s kind of like putting your stuff in a safe rather than showing it to everyone: sure, nobody gets to see what you put in. But it’s probably something of value.