I recently received an email from TM on "things I may be interested in" which was new, I've never received that before. I found the setting to turn it off as I don't want spam, but what surprised me was it's content: it featured siamese fighters and only siamese fighters, not any other type of tropical fish. I had recently been PMing someone here about purchasing some, and the only contact I had was via PM about the fighters - so how did TM get this information?

Had u been viewing fighters on TM?

cookies

Had u been viewing fighters on TM?

Nope, none for sale in my area and I only search in my area.

Probably cookies, can they be blocked?

Most browsers enable you to disable cookies, just enjoy less relevant information. I find it useful myself, not too paranoid that they follow my browsing habits.

Nope, none for sale in my area and I only search in my area.

Probably cookies, can they be blocked?

Had you searched on TM for fighters then? If so then that would be their source.

Cookies shouldn't be readable by another site, but if you had searched on TM they may well store that in cookies or even on their DB attached to your account - the latter is most likely

I didn't search "siamese fighter" on TM at all. If I do search for fish - I just go to the generic "fish" section and just scroll through what's available.

So when I received the email I was really surprised. I had a look in their privacy policy and found this under: "Other information we collect": http://www.trademe.co.nz/help/145/privacy-policy

Various advertising companies have cookies that track you across the internet.

I suggest people use the browser add-on from disconnect.me and use Firefox as it is currently the more secure Web browser. Chrome has recently had problems with add-ons incorporating malware.

The other add-ons I suggest is Adblock Edge to block those pesky ads (you can white list sites you like and want to earn money).

And HTTPS everywhere, the S means Secure.

I recommend NoScript and Ghostery for privacy, and Adblock Plus to kill pesky ads.

Haven't tried the ones #! mentioned, apart from HTTPS Everywhere, but these work for me...

I found NoScript annoying and Ghostery cause problems with web pages. Adblock edge is a Fork of Adblock plus because Adblock plus has an option to allow "non-intrusive" adds unselected buy default

I don't need to block ads, but delete cookies. Anyone recommend any good cookie deleting FF add-ons?

Ghostery covers cookies, as well as other forms of cross-site tracking. Works well for me, and it's free.

Any way for it to not advise of cookies etc. already blocked? And is it possible to select them all to be blocked not one at a time?

If you're that worried, one of the first things you should do is not use google for searching or use chrome as your browser. They don't even need cookies.

Generally cookies are pretty safe, they typically are only used to keep you logged in to sites. Once you're logged in, you can be tracked without storing any data on your computer.

Ad blocking is a more effective method as some of the ad networks store cookies on your computer which then can track you across multiple sites etc. Having good ad blocking should prevent this from happening.

If you're super paranoid, you'll need to run each site in private windows (most browsers have a method to do this). Even then, google can still track you using their analytics. Probably best to block that too.

I like what ghostery does but it's just too much work - it tells you of cookies for any site you visit, whether they're blocked or not so I feel the need to check for every page I turn. I'd rather it just told me of new cookies, not ones I've already blocked but there seems to be no option for this.

It would also be nice to block all cookies in a site, not one at a time.

So, can anyone recommend any cookie blocking site that does the above?

With Ghostery, I find it's set and forget. I just leave it running and turn off the announcements. They maintain the block list, sort of like ad blockers do. Mind you, it's only one of many privacy/security extensions I run.

There's quite a few cookie specific extensions for Firefox if cookies are your primary concern. I don't use any, but have a look at the reviews.

NoScript take a lot of training, but I wouldn't be without it. A lot of people find it too intrusive, but in my IT job I have to check a few dodgy sites, and I find it invaluable.