We should block trackers, as they follow our online activity. Do not take it for granted! Read this article to find out more and make an informed decision.
Trackers are hidden in the code of the websites and gather data about every use. Also, social media trackers which social networks place on website follow what we do and watch online.
Although some people use private browsing to prevent websites from tracking them online, their number is pretty small. Moreover, some browsers do not guarantee they would not track users even when they use it.
So, users that really care about their online privacy should know how to get rid of these trackers. We will let you know the dangers that they bring, how would an online world look without them and how to block them for good.
What are they and why to block trackers?
Companies generally want to track what their users do on the internet and how they use it. Of course, their main motivation is money.
So, in an ideal online world, no user should ever share personal information, such as name, location, birth date and contact details. Still, Google tracks when we visit other websites, so it keeps track of our search history and our other data.
To make your web experience better, we should use a browser which doesn’t exactly support all the tracking companies. Well, how many browsers do this? Not many, unfortunately.
Moreover, the biggest social media platforms, such as Facebook, gather a lot of data about their users. Then, they share it with advertisers so that they target their “ideal audience.” The platform knows places we visit, websites we browse and friends we invite. And here comes the worst: companies like Facebook track us even during private browsing.
What would be browsing without trackers?
Every day, many tracking scripts are prepared to transfer users’ data to servers. This data means they know our real identity.
What is even more frightening is that data is transmitted from one website to another, possibly without consent, via an internet protocol. Of course, the information can then be used for advertisement purposes.
Here come the cookies, which are containers of data that can uniquely identify any user. The Domain Name System (DNS) tells the internet where name servers are located. It is like a phone book for internet. If a website is using a certain domain, other websites can correctly recognise it and contact it.
All networks follow ‘Host-name’. This tells every user that a particular website is owned and run by a network. So, the website participate in all data transfers, which includes getting logged. It does this by sending an additional DNS response to their users.
That’s why victims of scams do not know what happens to them online, when they click on a link. They are misled as websites write a copy of all those log files. Eventually these files are searched, analysed and used for marketing.
This is called web scraping. Social media and ads also use it. Websites take out the data and send it to a central server.
Ads are mostly annoying. Some people love them just because they can advertise their products or services. Marketers know how to find the right keywords to reach us! Still, not everything that advertisers place in their ads causes consumer anger. But hate campaigns also happen every day.
Now, that you know these things, think about an online world without hate speech, without annoying ads and trackers. It would be ideal.
Learn how to block them for good
We are probably all annoyed by the popups with ticks that ask us to give our consent for using cookies that track us. If we visit a website to read an article, there would be no privacy for us there. So, no control over who follows us and logs our online activities. Moreover, some websites simply do not allow users see content if they refuse trackers.
So, there are two types of trackers: Platform Trackers and Location-based Trackers. The first one is triggered automatically whenever we save a website. For example, Facebook starts following us once we click on a friend on Facebook. Another example is LinkedIn, when users use the job search box.
Fortunately, there is a way we can block trackers and also all third-party cookies. It is called ad blocker and it would better be a Windows native one. Ad Guardian Plus is just what you need. So, do not waste time and personal data. Just try it!
