Stopping Stealth Tracking of Your Browsing Habits

Back when I was a kid, I'd play follow-the-leader with my cat, Klutz.  To make it more interesting, I'd go into 'stealth mode': avoid breaking twigs, dodge the crunchy leaves….Shhh....    As our Internet browsing experiences have become more commoditized and privacy policies are a moving target, I’m finding myself wanting to revisit stealth.

Earlier in the week, I discovered a Firefox Add-on that may be just the ticket: Do Not Track Plus It is supposed to block various tracking technologies as you browse. 

The look and feel:  A sphere will appear in the far right of Firefox’s tool bar after Add-on installation.  As you browse, you’ll start to see numbers appear in the sphere.  If you want more information about what it’s blocking, just click on the sphere.  It will expand and relay what’s being blocked at a particular website.  Blocking is broken down into 3 categories: social buttons, ad network tracking and companies tracking.

Results: Some time ago, I quit going to CNN’s web site after it relayed to me some of the articles that some of my Facebook friends had read on their website.  Creepy!  Wanting to test “Do Not Track Plus”, I headed off to CNN’s website.  And the answer: 13 tracking technologies were blocked.  Wow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think about this tracking/going stealth world we now live in?

 

Comments

[Karen]

Okay, maybe I'm crazy but I don't mind trackbacks and sometimes I depend on them for more information. I think of them sort of like if I were to toss a pebble into a still pond by visiting a site, the trackbacks are like ripples in the pond. I like seeing the ripples and think of them as more information. I think I've gotten used to ignoring ads, and I've stumbled upon books, articles and ideas I probably wouldn't have encountered otherwise.

[Ignacia]

Way too "big brother" for me. I may use this at home to prevent unwanted tracking.