Web Trackers Collect More Info Than Previously Believed
It’s common knowledge that we are being tracked anytime we’re online. Such tracking can follow users around much of the Internet in order to build a profile about them that is often used for advertising purposes. However, researchers at Norton LifeLock have determined that web trackers are collecting much more information about users’ browsing activity than had previously been believed.
Research Findings
“Our new research discovered that sometimes they know as much as twice what was previously found. And even if you delete your browser's data history, they can reconstruct your ‘data identity’ within hours,” the researchers write.
Some of the additional surprises the researchers found included:
Top Trackers: Tee study revealed that top trackers can see 73% of an average user’s browsing history despite appearing on a smaller number of unique domains.
The power of sharing: Researchers also estimate how much additional knowledge organizations can gain if they work together. Two organizations would see a 5% bump if they shared data; more than two organizations cooperating could push that number up to 50%.
Getting to know you — quickly: Consumers encounter, on average, 177 tracking organizations in one week, and they will encounter half of those trackers in the first two hours of browsing. In other words, if the user were to start over with a fresh browser, it would only take two hours on average to re-encounter 50% of all trackers.
3 Ways to Prevent Being Tracked Online
Put yourself on the right track to protect your data privacy and security with these simple changes to your browsing habits. Though this list is not exhaustive, it is a good start.
1. Enable ‘do not track’
In your browser settings, you can enable “do not track” which means you’re sending a request to your browser to not track your browsing activity. This is simply a request, and while many sites honor that request, others do not.
2. Use Private browsing
Browsing in a private or incognito window means no cookies should be saved to your browser. Your IP address will still be viewable to all sites you visit, because it’s required.
3. Don’t allow cookie tracking on websites
When the cookie permission box pops up on a website, just click “decline” or “no”. The downside of this is that declining cookie tracking could also disable certain website features and it’s not mandatory for websites to honor your request.
While web trackers aren’t inherently bad, the information they collect could be harmful if it falls into the wrong hands. Internet users should be aware of how much of their information is being collected. If the company collecting this information is breached, attackers can easily use the data to launch large-scale attacks.
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