WoT sells your browser history - Page 5

MidnightCowboy · 31. Dec 2016, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remah

My privacy horse bolted a long time ago and there is no easy way to get it back into the stable. So my privacy is less of a priority to me than my online safety. That's why I keep using WOT.

I feel the same.

We see so many folks complaining about privacy on the site yet they use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with their whole lives laid out for everyone to see.

Sope · 31. Dec 2016, 11:37 AM

I take the approach whereby I don't consider anything I do online is guaranteed to be completely private. Afterall, everything is done via at least one third party whether it's in the form of an ISP, an OS, free software, paid software, or whatever else.

In the real world you are forced to rely on the honesty and intergrity of others.... and sadly you need some good luck with that!

As I see it, there is a difference between someone posting personal stuff on social media consciously (I hope!) and having data regarding all their online activity being collected behind the scenes and sold on to the highest bidder. Even if you have read the privacy statements of every web site or service involved, and understood them, the latter is still happening outside of your immediate realtime awareness and control.

Of course everyone has to gauge for themselves the trade-off they are willing to accept between their convenience, safety and privacy. However if everyone just lets everything slide, the boundaries of what's acceptable will get stretched ever further.
I'm not an activist, but i'm glad there are those out there who continue to uncover and shout about these issues, take a stand, and make those involved account for their actions, or at least become more transparent.

Undoubtedly I'm using other services that have similar practices, but personally I won't be using WOT again after weighing up the balance between the nature of their service, their behaviour and the benefits I feel they offer me.
These problems are so widespread that I can only make these decisions, for myself, on a case by case basis and move on.

Thankfully I live in a free society (relatively speaking!) so breaches of my online privacy are insignificant when compared to those who live under oppressive regimes.

deya · 31. Dec 2016, 03:31 PM

For what it's worth, I find myself using Edge to browse with more and more these days. uBlock Origin works well enough, there's even Ghostery now if you need it. I also use WOT for Edge, which you can get from GitHub then side load it;

https://github.com/tim-we/WOT-for-Edge

It's not been updated since August but it works ok, the toolbar icon changes colour according to the site ratings and you can access the ratings page for the site you're on. No search engine icons though, and it won't block red rated sites. Still, I'm happy enough to use it.

One thing about the WOT ratings now that has me wondering. If so many users have stopped using the extension and closed their accounts then won't that in some way diminish it's effectiveness ie, people are not rating sites as much anymore? That being the way the whole thing works.

I was reading Gizmo's Christmas speech on the main site, the bit about the commercialisation of the internet being near complete - and, "This is a very different world to the one that existed when the Gizmo's Freeware site started more than a decade ago" ... how the site has to adapt to this reality, and in a way that's what we're doing here. Adapting to the reality that the privacy horse has bolted, as Remah so eloquently phrased it. And you could spend a massive chunk of your valuable time trying to get it back into the stable but I'm beginning to accept that it's futile to be honest.

I agree with what Sope has posted, above, and totally respect the views expressed about not using WOT again. Different ways of looking at it, different opinions, and that's how it should be. Weighing up the pros and cons then deciding for yourself is the only way to approach it.

Anupam · 31. Dec 2016, 04:15 PM

Like deya, Remah and MC, I continue to use WOT, because it offers a level of protection that is not being provided elsewhere right now. If there was, I would have switched.

Joe A.TT · 31. Dec 2016, 05:01 PM

I do understand that there are trade-offs in this world, but in this case I feel betrayed. When WoT makes it back to the Firefox repository, if they make it back, I might think about reinstalling WoT.

kendall.a · 31. Dec 2016, 07:11 PM

I agree with Joe. WOT is gone from all my machines and I will no longer recommend it to my friends/family.

However, it remains on my 78 year old mother's computer.

Remah · 31. Dec 2016, 09:57 PM

I would normally make the same decision as you both, Joe A.TT and kendall.a. I applaud you for sticking to your standards. My issue is that I did all that testing for Best Free Internet Safety Check years ago and found that WOT was so much more effective and easier to use that it movtivates me to put aside my moral/ethical misgivings.

Nowadays I do supplement WOT with the now common website and exploit protection that comes with my anti-virus. But they've never picked up a problem that isn't indicated by WOT ratings.

George.J · 01. Jan 2017, 06:31 AM

On one of the security sites [MalwareTips] that I regularly visit, 75% of the registered users voted down for WOT and that they wouldn't use it again. Web of Trust is back! Are you going to use WOT again?

I would understand most of them would be geeky enough to do away with it and would find some other alternative. But I stand with jackuar's comment that there's no real alternative to the service that WOT provides. Especially the point that was highlighted

Quote:

Is WOT that untrustworthy for the service it provides to stop ourselves from venturing into various other more untrustworthy/scam/malware/rogue and dangerous websites.

Just one of the reasons that I continue to use it and will be. And I would recommend it to any home users who aren't that tech-savvy.

MidnightCowboy · 01. Jan 2017, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George.J

On one of the security sites [MalwareTips] that I regularly visit, 75% of the registered users voted down for WOT and that they wouldn't use it again. Web of Trust is back! Are you going to use WOT again?

I would understand most of them would be geeky enough to do away with it and would find some other alternative. But I stand with jackuar's comment that there's no real alternative to the service that WOT provides. Especially the point that was highlighted

Just one of the reasons that I continue to use it and will be. And I would recommend it to any home users who aren't that tech-savvy.

I agree. Users rightly feel abused by what happened but in terms of privacy what have they actually lost? Without WOT however the risks of landing on a malicious data harvesting site are greatly increased in which case they could lose everything.

In any case with so many users it's like trying to preach to the unconvertable. With folks young and old in and out of our house over Christmas I learned from a past mistake and kept my own hardware isolated so they could only use what they brought with them. Watching them constantly clicking through multiple security warning messages generated by fancy firewalls and antivirus programs was just hilarious, and of course the paid stuff they had was much better than my freeware setup.

Burn-IT · 02. Jan 2017, 12:19 AM

That is the problem with most security and parental control stuff - it is just a warning and can easily be ignored to such an extent that most people don't even read them and would miss a severe or critical one.
I don't get warnings on my system. It is either clean or is blocked. If it IS blocked it is logged so I can check it later. If anyone other than me is using the machine they don't even see that it is blocked it just stays where it is and blanks the address.

31. Dec 2016, 04:15 PM	#44 (permalink)
Anupam Super Moderator Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: India Posts: 14,797	Like deya, Remah and MC, I continue to use WOT, because it offers a level of protection that is not being provided elsewhere right now. If there was, I would have switched. __________________ Anupam

31. Dec 2016, 07:11 PM	#46 (permalink)
kendall.a Foundation Editor/Mod Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Colorado, USA Posts: 2,283	I agree with Joe. WOT is gone from all my machines and I will no longer recommend it to my friends/family. However, it remains on my 78 year old mother's computer. __________________ <-------Just jammin to some music....

31. Dec 2016, 09:57 PM	#47 (permalink)
Remah Editor Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Zealand Posts: 1,678	I would normally make the same decision as you both, Joe A.TT and kendall.a. I applaud you for sticking to your standards. My issue is that I did all that testing for Best Free Internet Safety Check years ago and found that WOT was so much more effective and easier to use that it movtivates me to put aside my moral/ethical misgivings. Nowadays I do supplement WOT with the now common website and exploit protection that comes with my anti-virus. But they've never picked up a problem that isn't indicated by WOT ratings. __________________ Better to light a candle ... than to curse the darkness.

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31. Dec 2016, 11:37 AM	#42 (permalink)
Sope Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Wales, UK Posts: 1,168	I take the approach whereby I don't consider anything I do online is guaranteed to be completely private. Afterall, everything is done via at least one third party whether it's in the form of an ISP, an OS, free software, paid software, or whatever else. In the real world you are forced to rely on the honesty and intergrity of others.... and sadly you need some good luck with that! As I see it, there is a difference between someone posting personal stuff on social media consciously (I hope!) and having data regarding all their online activity being collected behind the scenes and sold on to the highest bidder. Even if you have read the privacy statements of every web site or service involved, and understood them, the latter is still happening outside of your immediate realtime awareness and control. Of course everyone has to gauge for themselves the trade-off they are willing to accept between their convenience, safety and privacy. However if everyone just lets everything slide, the boundaries of what's acceptable will get stretched ever further. I'm not an activist, but i'm glad there are those out there who continue to uncover and shout about these issues, take a stand, and make those involved account for their actions, or at least become more transparent. Undoubtedly I'm using other services that have similar practices, but personally I won't be using WOT again after weighing up the balance between the nature of their service, their behaviour and the benefits I feel they offer me. These problems are so widespread that I can only make these decisions, for myself, on a case by case basis and move on. Thankfully I live in a free society (relatively speaking!) so breaches of my online privacy are insignificant when compared to those who live under oppressive regimes.

31. Dec 2016, 03:31 PM	#43 (permalink)
deya Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,197	For what it's worth, I find myself using Edge to browse with more and more these days. uBlock Origin works well enough, there's even Ghostery now if you need it. I also use WOT for Edge, which you can get from GitHub then side load it; https://github.com/tim-we/WOT-for-Edge It's not been updated since August but it works ok, the toolbar icon changes colour according to the site ratings and you can access the ratings page for the site you're on. No search engine icons though, and it won't block red rated sites. Still, I'm happy enough to use it. One thing about the WOT ratings now that has me wondering. If so many users have stopped using the extension and closed their accounts then won't that in some way diminish it's effectiveness ie, people are not rating sites as much anymore? That being the way the whole thing works. I was reading Gizmo's Christmas speech on the main site, the bit about the commercialisation of the internet being near complete - and, "This is a very different world to the one that existed when the Gizmo's Freeware site started more than a decade ago" ... how the site has to adapt to this reality, and in a way that's what we're doing here. Adapting to the reality that the privacy horse has bolted, as Remah so eloquently phrased it. And you could spend a massive chunk of your valuable time trying to get it back into the stable but I'm beginning to accept that it's futile to be honest. I agree with what Sope has posted, above, and totally respect the views expressed about not using WOT again. Different ways of looking at it, different opinions, and that's how it should be. Weighing up the pros and cons then deciding for yourself is the only way to approach it.

31. Dec 2016, 05:01 PM	#45 (permalink)
Joe A.TT Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 1,028	I do understand that there are trade-offs in this world, but in this case I feel betrayed. When WoT makes it back to the Firefox repository, if they make it back, I might think about reinstalling WoT.

02. Jan 2017, 12:19 AM	#50 (permalink)
Burn-IT Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 475	That is the problem with most security and parental control stuff - it is just a warning and can easily be ignored to such an extent that most people don't even read them and would miss a severe or critical one. I don't get warnings on my system. It is either clean or is blocked. If it IS blocked it is logged so I can check it later. If anyone other than me is using the machine they don't even see that it is blocked it just stays where it is and blanks the address.