Hey what's up guys, I'm ThioJoe, and I'm sure most of you by now have heard about congress
passing a bill that basically makes it legal for internet service providers to collect
and sell data from their customers.
And this is anything from web searches, to websites visited, to shopping habits, to programs
you might be using.
However, ISPs do have opt-out options for some of this marketing data, and I'll walk
you through how to do this on all of the biggest ISPs, no matter who you have.
Now as a quick background, if you weren't familiar with this bill, ISPs can now spy
on you and sell your data to advertisers.
This is pretty bad, but to be fair, it's not really as bad as it sounds.
First of all, because this the rules this bill repealed weren't even in effect yet.
So ISPs can already do all this, and have been able to for a long time.
Secondly, it's not like they can sell individual data about a person, there are other laws
against that.
What they basically are able to do is collect aggregate data that is supposedly anonymous,
then sell "blocks" of this data to advertisers so they can advertise to specific groups.
That might not make you feel much better, but the good news is that as I said, basically
all ISPs allow you to opt out of certain data collection in one way or another.
It probably won't stop them altogether, but it might help.
And that's what I'll show you in this video.
I'll walk you through the process of opting out of as much data collection you can, for
each of the biggest internet service providers, and you can just follow along depending on
who you have.
Before we get to the individual ISPs though, there are a couple things you'll want to opt
out from no matter what ISP you have.
And this is one thing you'd have to do for every ISP anyway, so I don't have to explain
how to do the same thing 10 times.
The first thing you'll need to do is go to the following website: OptOut.AboutAds.info
. This is a site run by the Digital Advertising Alliance, which is like an aggregate for a
bunch of advertisers, and it allows you to opt out of targeted advertising by all the
advertisers in this group, which is over 100.
When you go to this page, it will automatically check which sites you're opted out of, which
is probably none.
Oh and you'll also want to disable any adblocker plugin, or if you have the HTTPS everywhere
extension, because that will mess it up.
After it's done, it will show you the list, you can just click "Opt Out of All", and it
will do it.
Keep in mind, this basically just creates a cookie in your browser that tells advertisers
not to track you.
So you will have to do this for every browser on all of your computers, and if you ever
clear your browser history, you'll have to do it again.
The other site you'll want to go to is: OptOut.NetworkAdvertising.org , which is for the Network Advertising Initiative.
It's basically the same idea as the other one, just different advertisers.
So Click "Manage my browser's opt outs" and it will run pretty much the same tool.
Don't forget to disable any extensions that interfere with this.
Then you do the same thing, click Opt Out of All.
So now that you've done that, let's get into the ISP specific instructions for how to stop
them from collecting more data.
This data is often called "CPNI", or Customer Proprietary Network Information, which is
a fancy way of saying information they get from you when you sign up as a customer.
Just remember that term if you hear me say it again.
Now the ISPs I researched are Comcast Xfinity, Verizon (both cellular and internet), Cox
Communications, Time Warner Spectrum, Charter Spectrum, Centurylink, and AT&T (both cellular
and internet).
If you have another ISP, I'll also include some general instructions that should still
help no matter who you have.
And I'll put any links in the desccription also.
Depending on who you use, you can just skip to those timestamps, so let's go.
First up, Comcast aka Xfinity.
You need to go to type in the following website: my.xfinity.com/adinformation/ . You may or
may not see a button to sign in, but you'll need to do that first.
If you're already signed in, you'll see a button that says "Opt Out".
Just click that, and it will say Your Opt Out request has been processed.
You may also wish to click the turn off email ads as well.
Below that, also click the link that says "Ad Choices", which will bring up yet another
tool for opting out of several ad data collection.
Just click Select All, and hit "Opt Out".
If you see anything that says it can't be processed with HTTPS, it means you have some
extension that is forcing an SSL connection that you'll need to temporarily disable.
Then just click Submit Opt out and wait for it to finish, and it will tell you if it worked.
Finally, you need to go to type in the address: Xfinity.com/AdServices . Unfortunately I don't
actually have active comcast service to access this so I can't show you what it looks like,
but if you go there, it should apparenlty have an option to opt out of more things.
If you do that, you should be good to go.
If you want some more general tips that aren't ISP specific, you can skip to the last part
of the video at THIS time.........
This section is for Verizon.
In their privacy policy, they have a section for how to opt out of using your so-called
CPNI for marketing, which I mentioned before.
They list a few ways you can do this.
Either by calling customer service at the phone numbers listed, or by doing it online
at the web address: "VZW.com/MyPrivacy".
One thing to note is that they seem to imply that that website will only work if you have
Verizon Wireless, and if you have residential internet, you might have to actually call
them, and request to opt out of your CPNI being used for Marketing.
Unfortunately I do not have verizon so I can't show you what the opt-out page looks like,
but I'm sure you can figure it out.
Once you do that, you should be done.
If you want some more general tips that aren't ISP specific, you can skip to the last part
of the video at THIS time.........
This section is for Cox Communications.
What you need to do is go to the main site, and log in to your account.
Then, in the top right dropdown, click "My Profile".
Scroll all the way to the bottom of that page, and you'll see a box called "Promotional Preferences".
Click "Edit Preferences", and then check all the boxes, especially the one that says "Do
Not Sell My Information", then hit Save Changes.
Now we're not done yet.
Next you need to type in the following site: Cox.com/PrivacyRequest . This will bring up
more privacy settings, and this may or may not look the same as here, depending on what
services you have.
Here you want to click "No" for both of these options, so they won't use your information,
and then hit Submit.
It should give you a confirmation, and now you should be done.
If you want some more general tips that aren't ISP specific, you can skip to the last part
of the video at THIS time.........
This section is basically three in one, Time Warner, Charter, and "Spectrum", which are
all now technically part of the same company.
Since I'm not totally sure which company's privacy settings work together after the merger,
we'll just do them all!
So no matter which service name you have, I recommend you try all of these, but it's
possible each step will still only work for the respective old company you had.
Anyway, don't worry, it's not that difficult.
First, go to time warner's spectrum site at this long address, link also in the description.
This link was actually tricky to find because they don't even list it in the privacy policy.
Once you get on the page, it will show you a form for how to opt out of them using your
CPNI that I mentioned earlier, for marketing purposes.
Just fill that out, and hit submit.
Next, go to the following site for charter: "PC2.MyPreferences.com/Charter/Privacy".
This will bring upu a privacy preferences page which a few links.
First, click the email marketing opt out link, then on that page type in your account email,
and hit "Validate".
Then click the next link for targeted ads opt out, type in your email again, and validate.
And then, click the link for targeted TV ads, type in your ACCOUNT number, not email, and
click "Opt Out".
Finally, where it says "Opt Out using account number", click Yes, type in your account number
twice, check all the boxes, and hit subimt.
Now you should be good to go.
If you want some more general tips that aren't ISP specific, you can skip to the last part
of the video at THIS time.........
This section is for CenturyLink.
You want to go to the following Link, which is also in the description.
This will bring you to a customer service form labelled Marketing Preferences.
First, type in your phone number associated with the account.
You basically want to just check all the boxes, which will opt you out from several things,
including marketing lists, call lists, mailing lists, and more.
Fill out the sections with your address and email, and once everything is filled in, just
click submit.
According to their privacy policy, this should stop them from selling your personal information,
including your name, address and telephone number.
So you should be good at this point.
If you want some more general tips that aren't ISP specific, you can skip to the last part
of the video at THIS time.........
This section is for AT&T, both Wireless and Home Internet.
Unfortunately, AT&T seems to be the BIGGEST pain in the neck in terms of opting out of
data collection, but I did my best to find everything to do.
This is based on their privacy policy site, so you can look at that yourself if you want,
link is in the description.
First, if you have the AT&T Uverse App, they use two services called "Crittercism" and
"Flurry" to track your usage within the app.
To turn off Crittercism tracking, open the U-Verse App > Settings > Diagnostics > And
Set "Enable Diagnostics" to OFF.
I don't have Uverse so Unfortunately I can't show you the steps, but that's what you need
to do.
For tracking with Flurry, well the opt-out link they provided seems to be literally broken,
so I would honestly contact customer support and ask them how to opt out.
Those are just for the U-Verse App though.
Next, we want to opt out of another tracking service AT&T uses called "Criteo", by going
to the site "Criteo.com/Privacy".
Scroll down a bit, check the box that says "Opt Out of all linked Browsers", and change
the Opt-Out switch to "On".
Also click the "Opt-Out" button under Criteo Sponsored Products.
Ugh, Next.
You need to go to this address: "ATT.com/CMPchoice".
It will prompt you to log in, then take you to a page for managing your privacy.
First, click on the tab on the left that says "External Marketing and Analytics Reports",
then "Manage Your Preferences".
Check the box to opt out, and hit save.
Then, click on the tab that says "DNS Error Assist", which you may or may not even have
depending on your service.
If you do, just opt out again.
Next, click the tab that says "Relevant Advertising", and it will reveal a few options depending
on what services you have.
For example, I just see Wireless, so I click on that.
Again, just check the box to opt out, and hit save.
The next tab to click is "Third Party Services".
Now this one is tricky, because it's actually possible you don't want to disable it.
They claim that this is so other services like your bank can verify your identify, or
you can get location data if your car breaks down.
If you think you might actually use something like that, perhaps you want to keep it on.
Either way, you'd go to "Manage Preferences", select a number, and choose to allow data
sharing or not.
I just kept it on in case I need it, but it actually says no third party services are
receiving personal data right now anyway.
Now Finally, we've reached the final step with AT&T, which is to opt out of them using
your CPNI, which I mentioned earlier, for marketing purposes.
So click the tab on the left that says CPNI, then "Proceed to Opt-Out".
You can also go directly to the link here, link also in the description.
On that page, just put in your account number, your Billing zip code, check the box to restrict
use of CPNI, and click submit.
They sure don't make this easy, but you should now be done.
If you want you can stick around for the next section for more general tips that aren't
ISP specific.
This final section is for either if I didn't include your ISP, or if you want some general
tips for how to opt out of data collection, not just from your ISP, but other services.
Most ISPs should have some sort of opt-out settings, and often times the magic word I
mentioned before is "CPNI", customer Proprietary Network Information.
So if you google, "ISP Name, CPNI Opt-Out", chances are it will bring up some information
how how to opt out.
Also, essentially every website on the internet is required to have a privacy policy on their
website.
If you go to your ISP's site, look at the bottom for the privacy policy link, and if
they have any options to opt out of certain data collection, that's where you'll find
out how to do it.
Finally, you can do a very general search, and this could be for any service, not even
an ISP.
You can google something like, "Company Name, Opt-out", and I bet it will bring up some
interesting things.
Try this with any company you do business with, such as your Electric Company, or Insurance
Company.
You'll probably find some hidden away settings to opt out of things they don't really want
you to know about either.
So I think that should cover just about everything.
Hopefully It was helpful, no matter who is your internet service provider.
I'd love to hear what you guys think down in the comments section.
If you want to keep watching I'll put some other videos right here, you can just click
on these.
Also, be sure to subscribe because I make new videos every tuesday thursday saturday.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you, so as usual, thanks for watching, and have a
good one.