Info bubble: How to protect yourself from being tracked by Web trackers on the Internet?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Let's say you want to go somewhere for the New Years. For example, in Morocco. Or, perhaps, to the homeland of Father Frost in Veliky Ustyug. You go to the Internet and enter the corresponding request into the search. But since you don't know what you want, you very soon switch to social media. And now, less than five minutes later, an advertisement for sunny Morocco or snowy Veliky Ustyug begins to haunt you on Facebook, VK or Insta. And the next day, the same story on the phone and on the work computer …

Nowadays, even the most insignificant Internet user periodically experiences the unpleasant feeling that someone or something on the Internet knows too much about him.

And it's not just a feeling. We are indeed constantly monitored, but not by "comrade majors", as in the good old days, but by the so-called web trackers.

In a very general “for the humanities,” we can say that trackers are pieces of code on websites that are created to collect data about how you interact with that website

This data is needed by search engines and social networks in order to offer users primarily information of interest to them, including information of a commercial nature.

You can also use this data to sell to interested third parties, such as advertisers, target audiences.

What kind of data are we talking about?

Here is an incomplete list of what may be known about us besides the fact that we cannot choose between Morocco and Veliky Ustyug and that, most likely, we will spend the weekend watching TV series and on sale at Ikea:

- age, - floor, - relationship status, - family members, - mother's name, - the name of the grandmother, - the name of the great-grandmother, - income, - education, - ethnicity, - hobby, - problems with physical and mental health, - size of clothes and shoes, - financial situation, - fertility, - training schedule, - sexual preferences, - location in real time, - political views and much more.

What are trackers and how they collect data about us

Let's take a look at the most common web trackers and tips on how to get rid of (if at all possible) their presence.

Cross-site tracking cookies

They follow you from site to site, carefully collect information about what you do online, and in theory can transfer it to third parties, such as advertising or analytical agencies, usually without your knowledge and consent.

At the same time, cookies are different. Most sites use them not as a cross-site tracking "spy" tool, but as a useful thing for the user. Cookies are needed so that the site “remembers” the user's routine actions and does not have to repeat them every time, like the first. It's just very convenient.

How to protect yourself? This can be done in the browser settings. Or you can use a dedicated tool like CCleaner.

However, there is a small problem. As mentioned above, most sites use cookies solely for the convenience of users, and by abandoning this tool, you complicate your life somewhat, every time you visit the site as if for the first time. A source

Social media trackers

Gather information about what you watch, what you like and what you share with your friends. This allows the companies behind social media to collect vast amounts of highly personal information about preferences, political opinions, social contacts and user status, not to mention the information your profile contains. Social networks can and do use this information for targeted advertising.

Currently, the largest and most powerful social network in the world, Facebook, is subjected to harsh criticism and pressure from both the American antitrust regulator and from the relevant government bodies of the united Europe. The story promises to be long, and it is not clear how it will end for users. And that's just Facebook …

How to protect yourself? Use special extensions or not use social networks at all. Otherwise, every time you write a comment and like a photo on Insta, remember that your choice will be taken into account when compiling your digital profile;)

Fingerprinting (from finger tips)

It differs from previous types of tracking in that it collects data about you not directly, but through data about your browser and device. For example: screen resolution, operating system, fonts, etc. Using these digital prints, you can create a unique profile and follow you on different sites.

How to protect yourself?

“Using the default settings reduces the recognition of the computer, but limits the user's freedom of action. Changing privacy settings and installing special extensions allows you to partially block the sending of data, but increases the recognition of your computer on the network. If you want to minimize the likelihood of identifying your browser, use a browser with default settings and one extension that allows you to regulate JavaScripts and Flash. A source

On the one hand, thanks to trackers, we get the information most relevant to our requests, on the other hand, the feeling that something decides for you how “your” Internet should look and what kind of advertising you should see there is frankly annoying. Nobody asks us what kind of information about ourselves we are ready to share and with whom exactly.