What Can I Do?

Eli Pariser, the man who coined the phrase “Filter Bubble,” provides these ten steps on how to reduce your online limitations, but here is a simpler version of the list below, complete with instructional images:

1. Get rid of your cookies.
cookiesBut why? They’re so delicious!
Not those cookies, silly.

Cookies are small files that websites use to track your behavior, usually to make your browsing experience more convenient. On the other hand, they are more and more frequently used to build a “profile” about you that can be sold to advertisers.
Click here for instructions on how to do this.

 

2. Erase browsing history.

Step 1:
Go to your Google homepage. At the bottom right hand of the page, should be a “Settings” option. Click this, and then “Web history.”
step1real
Step 2:
At the top left-hand of the Web History page, you will find a settings icon. Click this and select “Settings.”

step2
Step 3:
Select “delete all.”

step3Feels good, doesn’t it?

3. Increase Facebook privacy settings and turn off “Instant Personalization.”
facebook
Here, you can play around with privacy settings to make sure as little information about you is made available to the public.
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Also, by selecting the “Apps” option,
facebook3you can turn off “Instant Personalization” which connects your information to your search engine results. While you’re there, you can also remove the apps that have access to much of your profile information (yeah, remember that quiz you took that one time that allowed them access? Me neither).
facebook4

4. Opt-out of targeted ads.
Easy-peasy. Just click here and the site provides simple instructions and it only takes about a minute. Beware, though. This is a voluntary service which means the sites don’t necessarily have to stop targeting you based off of your information.

5. Use an Incognito browser.
Selecting this option disables cookie tracking, browser history, and logs you off of Google/Facebook. Beware, though, because you are not necessarily invisible.

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What’s even better than going incognito? Using a search engine, like Duckduckgo.com, that doesn’t track you at all.

 

duckduck

 

 

 

The very last step to popping the Filter Bubble is perhaps the most important of them all. There is a misconception that the public is apathetic to Google and Facebook‘s tracking. Write to them (and to the House and Senate) to express your concern.

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