How do third parties track you across the web? Each time you visit a website, your computer makes a request to that website’s server.
But in the background, it may also make dozens or even hundreds of requests to other third-party servers, many of which may be trackers. <THREAD>
But in the background, it may also make dozens or even hundreds of requests to other third-party servers, many of which may be trackers. <THREAD>
The most common tool for this kind of tracking is a cookie: a small piece of text stored in your browser, associated with a particular domain.
Cookies were invented to help site owners determine whether a user had visited their site before, which makes them ideal for tracking.
Cookies were invented to help site owners determine whether a user had visited their site before, which makes them ideal for tracking.
Cookies are always unique, and they normally persist until a user manually clears them. Cookies are always available to trackers in unmodified versions of Chrome, but third-party cookies are no longer available to many trackers in Safari and Firefox.
The good news is that users can block cookies themselves with browser extensions. EFF’s very own Privacy Badger will eat those tracking cookies and stop third parties in their tracks. eff.org/privacybadger
Read more in our new deep-dive on the technology and business practices of corporate tracking. #BehindTheOneWayMirror eff.org/wp/behind-the-…
