If you were aware of the many companies that track you around the web and use the profiles they build on you to send you targeted advertising, you probably didn't know that you can opt out of this tracking one at a time with many of those companies.

How convenient.

While I suppose it's very nice that these companies will stop taking your private browsing habits from you without your knowledge or permission if you go through their hoops to stop it, there's a much easier way. A privacy-minded geek helpfully compiled a list of all the opt-out cookies that the ad networks look for to flag you as someone who shouldn't be tracked.

Further, he modified a free Google app that restores certain cookies after wiping your cookie files to preserve the opt-out cookies. So install TACO and you will better avoid being tagged and tracked like an animal online.

Rebates are those deals where they promise you a super-low price, sometimes FREE!… buuuut you have to jump through a few hoops first.

Why Stores Like Rebates

You may have wondered why rebates instead of just a discount? Either should be a tax write-off for the company offering them, but there are specific advantages for companies in offering rebates:

Even if you manage to get your rebate, the company that issued it gets to have your money and keep it interest free for 4 to 6 weeks or longer. Better yet (for them), they get chance after chance after chance to keep your money forever:

• If you buy the wrong item, buy it during the wrong dates, send the wrong paperwork, fail to cut off the UPC code from the product packaging before you throw the packaging away, forget to mail it, or just mail it after the cutoff date, you lose.

• If it gets "lost in the mail" or carelessly handled by the rebate company, you lose.

• If the rebate check gets lost in the mail back to you or you forget or lose the check before you can cash it, you lose.

Best of all, the companies require a decent amount of personal information and seldom provide a privacy policy or indication of which data is optional. If they provide a form asking for information that you don't feel is relevant, you could skip it, but then run the risk of having the rebate refused. Once they have your information, without any law to the contrary, they can store it, profile you or sell it to other profilers at their convenience. It's basically the same as a forced registration.

So let's sum up, they get your valuable personal information and in many cases get to keep your money too. So they win big and you lose big which doesn't sound like a very good deal to me.

As far as I'm concerned, unless it's an instant in-store discount, all rebates should be illegal.

Rebate Tips

Until and unless that ever happens, here's what you should know about rebates to increase your chances of getting the money the promised you:

• Read the rebate form's legal details and make sure that it doesn't have any nasty loopholes or policies that you didn't expect.
• Check the model number of your product and verify that it's specifically listed on the rebate form.
• Check the effective dates of the rebate to make sure you're buying the item during the rebate period. If it's expired, but a salesperson says the rebate has been extended, have them show you the new rebate form as proof.
• After buying the product(s), immediately fill out all forms, cut off the UPC codes, and put each rebate in an addressed, stamped envelope ready to go out the next day.
• Make sure that if you have multiple rebates, you send the original copies to the ones that ask for the originals. The others should say "copy of". If two ask for the original of something, call the number that should be listed on the rebates to get clarification.
• Make sure that you keep copies of everything. Scanning them into the computer is a great way to do this. It's also a good way to make the copies you need.
• Make sure that you wrote the correct addresses from the rebate forms to the envelopes.
• Keep a log of each rebate, the date that you expect the money back, and the phone number (or other contact information) listed on the form to call if it doesn't come back in time. Write each on your calendar and call them immediately if they're not back in time. Keep records of every person you talk to and what they say (record it if you legally can).
• For large rebates, send them certified mail so they can't claim they didn't receive the information.

In Conclusion

If that seems like a lot of work to get your money, it is. The point that you must remember is this: if you aren't the kind of person to carefully work through all your rebates and follow up if there's a problem, you're probably better off not bothering with rebates at all. Just stick to the lowest price in the store and be done with it.

The sick thing about this story is that the spyware wasn't a hack against these companies, but was planned and sanctioned by the companies.

Between April 2007 and January 2008, visitors to the Kmart and Sears web sites were invited to join an "online community" for which they would be paid $10 with the idea they would be helping the company learn more about their customers. It turned out they learned a lot more than participants realized or that the feds thought was reasonable. To join the "My SHC Community," users downloaded software that ended up grabbing some members' prescription information, emails, bank account data and purchases on other sites. Sears called the group that participated "small" and said the data captured by the program was at all times secure and was then destroyed.

Remember that there are no laws currently to protect against the abusive data collection and sharing practices that many companies employ. Be careful with your data and don't trust even the most reputable-seeming companies to choose your privacy over the almighty dollar.

TJX now has a firm that scours the internet to find bad things posted about them, which is how they found the message and fired him for it. Too bad they don't appear to have hired anyone to beef up operational security or to convince people to use strong passwords.

Hey! That probably means they'll find THIS page. Sweet.

If that's the case, then here's my message to them: Stop storing all that personal data about us against our will and you won't have to pay for more security. You can't lose what you don't have, duh!