Protection From Online Tracking

Protection From Online Tracking. online tracking has become an everyday reality that threatens our online privacy. Protecting your personal data is more important than ever, and knowing effective ways to protect yourself will help you maintain your privacy.

The main aim of online tracking protection is to stop online advertisers, analytics companies, or other third-party trackers from spying on your online activities. Online tracking is a common practice used by companies and organizations to gather and monitor your online activities, often without your explicit consent. Tracking protection works by blocking cookies, and other tracking tools that are used to collect your personal information and browsing habits.

How companies can track you with Online Tracking

Protection From Online Tracking. Currently, there are two main methods of online data tracking: the first cookie. And which is gradually disappearing, Also. pixel trackers, which are a bit more complicated. Here, you’ve probably heard the term “cookie” before. So then, they are small packets of information that allow websites to store data such as your password. As a result, you don’t have to log in every time you access a website.

But in addition to these “necessary” files, there are third-party cookies that can track your browsing session, information that can later be sold to data firms. However, while the principle remains the same, legislation on tracking pixels is sparse, meaning that users who are used to cookie restrictions. Consequently, we now have to go back to square one when it comes to data vigilance.

Scripts

But, some site elements now even come complete with scripts that can go further than cookies ever did. Besides, this is probably the most obvious way you can be tracked online. Therefore, if you’ve visited any foreign website recently, you’ve probably noticed a form asking you to consent to cookies. Hence, while it may be a short-term annoyance to go through them. However, they have gone a long way toward making cookies less stealthy and much easier to block.

Subsequently, add to that Google’s often-delayed but still-planned attempt to kill cookies entirely. Because of this, data brokers have had to become more inventive. For example, tracking pixels work similarly to cookies, but use images instead of text. Here, essentially, companies can hide transparent or otherwise invisible pixels on your screen. And receive a notification when your browser loads them. Thus, allowing them to track which parts of a website you visit and when.

How to know if you are being tracked by Online Trackers

Protection From Online Tracking. Online Tracking. Currently, there are two main methods of online data tracking: the first cookie. And which is gradually disappearing, Also. pixel trackers, which are a bit more complicated. Furthermore, when tracking pixels are uploaded to a site, you can see their tags in the code of that site. In this case if you know what to look for, simply right-click and select “Check” from the drop-down menu to start your research. So then, this will work in Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, although Safari will require a bit of fiddling.

However, if you don’t want to do it manually, some tools automate the process for you and also give you context for what you see. Therefore, the latest and most reliable is Feroot PageScanner, a free Chrome extension.

Feroot PageScanner

Feroot PageScanner probably has the fastest interface for informing you when your data is being tracked. While it does nothing to block trackers, it does display notifications on your screen in real-time, letting you know when your data is being tracked and by whom.

Besides, its menu also provides a detailed list of active trackers, who is running them, and what purpose they serve. In addition, you will be able to view any scripts running on the web page you are visiting without having to enter the “Check” menu.

Incidently, it’s designed for enterprise customers who perform security analysis on their sites, especially those seeking PCI compliance. (Payment card industry (PCI) compliance) But it’s also a great place for anyone to start, as it gives an in-depth, if slightly frightening, look at the scope of the problem. (Feroot Page Scanner)

Tracker Categories

Protection From Online Tracking. Ghostery divides the observed activities online into 12 categories based on their function:

Uncategorized: These trackers have not been categorized yet.

Advertising: Advertising services that utilize data collection, behavioral analysis, and user retargeting.

Site Analytics: Data analytics, site usage, and performance trackers.

Consent Management: Cookie consent managers, allowing websites different levels of tracking user activity.

Essential: Site requests that may be critical to website functionality, such as tag manager, privacy notices, error reports and performance.

Hosting: Services providing access to websites have access to server logs, including IP address and User Agent information.

Customer Interaction: Chat widgets, customer support, comment sections for articles or product reviews and other interaction tools.

Audio/Video Player: Most audio and video players on websites.

Extensions: Software that intercepts and analyzes browser requests by redirecting traffic to itself. This includes browser hijacking extensions, but also legitimate applications like anti-virus software.

Adult Advertising: Advertising services designed for adult content sites.

Social Media: Features related to social media platforms.

Miscellaneous: Different types of unclassified web trackers.

How to block online trackers

Protection From Online Tracking. Now that you understand the scope of the problem, there are many tools available to help you take control of your online privacy. The least intrusive of these is a browser extension.

Ghostery Protection from Online Trackers

Protection From Online Tracking. Ghostery works similarly to PageScanner, except that it can go further and limit trackers. However, its information is not as detailed as PageScanner’s.

That is, it will tell you where the trackers come from and what purpose they pursue, but you will not receive pop-up notifications and will not be able to sort scripts.

According to experts, Ghostery also conflicts with PageScanner, so it is better to use it to neutralize threats that you have already identified.

Ghostery is available as an extension for most browsers and as a standalone browser with built-in features. It also offers a privacy-focused search engine that is available both as a browser extension and on its site.

If you prefer not to install anything, you can see which trackers are active on the site by going to Ghostery’s website, whotracks.me.

However, despite being an open-source project, Ghostery has been criticized in the past for selling data and replacing blocked ads with its own. However, since its acquisition in 2017, Ghostery has been working to restore its reputation.

I use Ghostery, and you can get it from here (Best Ad Blocker & Privacy Browser | Ghostery)

uBlock Origin, Protection from Online Trackers

uBlock Origin is another open-source ad blocker, and while it may be a bit more difficult to understand and use than Ghostery, there’s no doubt that it’s the most powerful of all the options.

It can block almost any element on any site with accuracy, and while it comes with built-in block lists, you can also create and import your own.

The downside is that it gives you less information about how and when you are being tracked compared to PageScanner or Ghostery because it just displays the blocked tags and ads and expects you to be able to parse them. It is available as an extension for Chromium and Firefox browsers.

You can get uBlock Origin here, (uBlock Origin – Free, open-source ad content blocker.)

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a popular privacy-focused company that is better known for its search engine. It also has a browser extension and the browser itself that blocks trackers.

The company’s tracker blocking code is open source, so it can be openly tested, but there is one caveat: there is no ad blocking if the ad does not contain a tracker. Allways strive to stay safe online

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In Conclusion

Your personal data is a precious commodity in the digital world, and ads have slowly but surely become the main tool to harvest it. Data-hungry advertisers are craving information about you to bombard you with personalized ads and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. They collect chunks of data from cookies, ads and use tracking tools to keep an eye on you at all times. Your interests, worries, secrets — every action you take online — is logged and exposed for everybody willing to pay for it. Moreover, your data can be leaked, making you an easy target for hackers and governments. Ad blockers disarm advertisers, keeping your data private and everybody else clueless.

Important Note *

Remember that everyone is different, it is ultimately YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to find what your body responds to. So please do your due diligence before trying anything new, including getting Medical Advice to ensure your safety and peace of mind.

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