Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bynamite?

Bynamite gives you a way to control the information that advertisers want to collect from you. Online advertising can be a great way to hear about things that you really enjoy, but some Internet advertisers can go too far in using your information. Bynamite lets you see and change the information that advertisers know about you, and tells advertisers that they have to respect your control if they want to work with you. Your Internet experience should be free of creepy advertising.

What's wrong with "creepy" advertising?

Creepy advertising happens when you get an ad that you know is the result of something you've done, but the ad isn't really something you wanted, because the advertiser used information that you didn't want them to use. Like when you're looking at a website about ice cream, and then you go to another website that shows you an ad for weight loss. You should be able to tell advertisers to stop showing you weight loss ads - or to show you more, if that's what you want.

How does Bynamite fight creepy advertising?

Bynamite manages your "opt-out" preferences across over a hundred ad networks, and tells all ad networks to obey your preferences. These networks are constantly watching your web activity, and although they say you can opt out of their service, doing so is confusing and hard. They ask you to read complicated terms of service and privacy policies, even though they know you probably won't take the time.

Who has time to read hundreds of legal documents and privacy policies? We do! We've read 'em all, and we'll keep reading more. We stay up to date every time they change their policies. And then we manage opt-out choices so that the only networks allowed to work with you are the ones that give you control over your information.

Why should I want control over my advertiser information?

You give your information away to advertisers with almost everything you do on the Internet. Advertisers track your purchases, your website visits, your searches, your every click - and they put this information into a picture of who you are.

If you ever read an advertiser privacy policy, you'll probably see that the advertiser can do whatever it wants with your information, without giving you any easy ability to see or change your information. Out of hundreds and hundreds of ad networks, only a tiny handful will show you what kind of information they have collected about you. An even smaller number will make it easy for you to change that information.

The ability to easily see and change the information that an advertiser knows about you is our minimal definition of control. Bynamite gives you a way to demand this control from advertisers.

How does Bynamite give me better control over my own information?

Bynamite collects information that you already give away to advertisers, and shows it to you in one place where you can see and change anything you want. We tell all advertisers that if they want to use your information, they can only do so if they give you the ability to control information they have about you. Advertisers that respect your control get to work with you. Advertisers that don't give you control will not be allowed to use your information - we'll opt you out of their networks.

Why not just block all advertising? Does Bynamite block online ads?

Bynamite does not block ads. If you want to block ads in your browser, there are some great free tools to do so, like AdBlock and NoScript.

We don't block ads because so much of the Internet runs on advertising, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's a ton of great free stuff on the web - news and reference, photos and videos, games and social networking - and it's free because it's supported by advertising. We don't want ads to disappear, we just want them to get better: less intrusive, less annoying, and most of all, less creepy. We think it's ok for advertisers to use consumer information for better advertising, but only if they give you control over that information.

Does Bynamite contain advertising?

No, but we can't say we never will. Hey, a girl's gotta earn a living. Bynamite is trying to keep up with hundreds of ad networks, across a lot of very complicated information which changes all the time. And we want to provide you with superior services for managing your own information. This costs money, so we have to collect money to do it. We'd rather get money from advertisers than from you - but our goal is to do this in a way that keeps you in control.

Will using Bynamite expose me to spam?

No! Bynamite does not sell your email address to anyone. For the most part, we don't even know who you are - we don't collect your real name, street address, or payment information. The whole point of Bynamite is to make your relationships with advertisers better, not worse.

How does Bynamite protect my privacy?

First and foremost, we are honest about privacy. We're proud to have The World's Most Honest Privacy Policy, you should really take a look.

Are these Questions really Frequently Asked, or did you just make them up?

We made them up. We would love to have your real questions: ask away in the Question Forum, comment on the Bynamite blog, or email us. As we get more real questions from real people, we'll add them to the Real FAQs page.