WHAT IS TRACKING
we are all being tracked every time we do anything online all news absolutely not privacy scandals like cambree's analytic I have shown the detailed profiles that data brokers collate from our online surfing habits come with serious risks but how is user data collected anyway what do companies know about us and is there anything we can do about it let's take a look online advertising has never been more invasive or more unescapable thanks to the wealth of data that is available on each and every user a single site or app might contain dozens of trackers building a detailed profile of who you are and what you do online and the bad thing is we don't even notice privacy is a buzzword with all the big tech companies these days Apple Google and Facebook have all recently vowed to undertake new measures to protect user data how valid those claims are remains to be seen check out our in-depth report on those initiatives on a smaller scale the operators of search engine dr. Koh have recently taken the lead they want to make the so-called do-not-track not the mandatory standard the idea is already 10 years old D&T option in your browser should allow you to serve the web without being tracked but many large companies inside simply don't play along and keep creating data profiles on us even when we have opted out in the browser the most common tools to collect information about us are so-called cookies sounds sweet but cookies are in fact tiny files placed on your computer by your browser when you visit websites there are two basic types session and persistent session cookies are good they enable us to move from one part of a website say a product page to another say a checkout page without having to constantly relock in for every page session cookies are stored only as long as your current session and should automatically be deleted when you lock off your website persistent cookies can be good or bad depending on how you look at it they are placed in your computer and they stay in your computer they use primarily by marking firms to track your browsing history for example if you keep visiting shoe stores you will soon find ads for shoes following you wherever you go and that regardless of which side you're visiting in some cases this can be intrusive while in others the relevancy of the ads may be welcome another method is browser fingerprinting and it works like this when you visit a website besides web server has the ability to transfer a snippet of JavaScript code to the browser your browser then execute that script locally that means on your device the code can then collect information about installed extensions browser types and names time zones screen resolution add blog presence list of available fonts computer hardware and many more the JavaScript creates a hash of the collected data this is what's called your browser fingerprint and it then sends it back to the sides web server where it's typically stored in a database provided that the fingerprint is unique to you you can be tracked when you re-enter the site you can also be tracked across different websites if multiple sites share your fingerprint the advantage for websites they don't need to create and store cookies in order to save data on you that's why browser fingerprints are also called cookie less monsters another aspect a website's web server is able to read and understand your IP address if you use a virtual private network or VPN your true IP address can be disguised but that only changes one of many points of data that make up your browser fingerprint this means you are still susceptible to being tracked of course many people brush off privacy worries saying they have nothing to hide but have a look at what information is collected about us gender age personal statutes also address and current location but also what music we listen to which TV series we like where we buy online and what individual profiles are created from this data this allows pretty precise conclusions about personal situation to be drawn whether you're gay or straight for instance as well as monitoring your behaviors and purchasing powers the worst thing about these profile is they are worth a lot of money and they're being sold especially interested in user data banks landlords and insurers it helps them to assess how reliably a customer might pay and the marketing industry uses the data to generate personalized ads okay not getting a loan from the bank or paying higher insurance premiums because of my online behavior that sounds terrifying on the other hand where's the harm in tailored ads listen to bot Frederica card marina from the NGO privacy international thinks about this young jeezy Nina Lewis our does up toybox village in crown v Rumsey in up tribals kena Kingsland the album from Antioch travels kick negotiated foot the stacked and for Novas Tecna chalice MOOC leashes on discarded he could see it available Gingrich have an invention as you know valueless least harmless if you're interested what data is some of the biggest online platforms are collecting about you check the interactive website who's watching you there you'll find a lot of detailed information on the topic for example I found out that Facebook tracks where they open emails it sends me or not you can find the link here to be honest completely avoiding tracking is impossible at least if you want to keep your Instagram account keep using Google services or play free gaming apps but there are a couple of things you can do to reduce the amount of information you're giving away first that classic clean your internet browsing history after every use and don't forget the cookies second use a privacy browser for example Firefox here cookies can automatically be raised after each session if you choose so in the setting or use the incognito mode while surfing third pay attention to apps permission requests sometimes apps ask for more information than they really need that information can be sent to companies who might use it for checking your app permissions regularly is good practice it will give you more control over your privacy and stop apps from potentially spying on you positive side effects it can also read out apps that are constantly running in the background which can in turn improve your device's battery life and one last tip stop and think before you willfully give away data there is little you can do about the legal collection of your data the principle here is to think of it as a trait and make sure you are happy with the terms ask yourself is Facebook sufficiently important to me to trade my privacy and my data for his services does an online form collect info which I agree is necessary to apply for a job if you're not satisfied with the terms of the agreement walk away are you worried about your privacy online and what do you do to protect
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