How to Avoid Getting Tracked as You Browse the Web

As privacy barrier have bit by bit been eroded online , it ’s become harder and concentrated to keep mastery over what you ’re revealing to the web site you bring down when you open up a web browser app . For many user now , revealing who you are is just an inevitable consequence of being on the web and using apps , but if you want to tighten the rein on where your data ’s going , you do have some option .

Privacy tools

Starting with data describe to sites by your web browser , a plugin or extension is probably your best stake for stopping data point from leaking out . TryNoScript Security Suitefor Firefox orScriptSafefor Chrome , which prevent dynamic detail on websites from run when you do n’t want them too . Other good choice include the Electronic Frontier Foundation’sPrivacy Badger , which forget third - company tracking cooky while allowing useful , like those that record ones to continue work , andDisconnect , which offers devoid add - ons that work in a exchangeable way .

We also likeGhostery , a privateness extension usable for Chrome , Firefox , Opera , and Microsoft Edge . Like Privacy Badger and Disconnect , it arrest transverse - site , third - party trackers from pass , and you could in reality see a list of tracker on each site and select to block or allow them as needed .

Built-in browser options

For more cooky options beyond the extensions we ’ve mentioned , head into your browser app ’s setting page . One of the setting will refer toDo Not Track , an agreed - upon protocol that automatically expect site tonot run any scriptsdesigned to track your behavior . It sound like a pure solution in theory , but there’sno legal obligationfor site to honor the request , and many will just disregard it . you could see some of the internet that abide by a Do Not Track request , including Pinterest and Twitter , here .

Opening up an incognito or secret windowpane can help . In these cases cookies are only retain for the current browsing session , so as before long as you close down the incognito windowpane , they get delete from your system . From the perspective of the internet browser , it ’s as if you were never online at all .

On the other deal , incognito mode does n’t stop websites and ISPs fromknowing you ’re online . You’restill circularise your IP savoir-faire , for example . And , of course , if you log into Facebook ( or anywhere else ) all the usual ruler about tracking and data assembling still apply . It ’s honorable to think about incognito mode as hiding your graze body process on your local equipment rather than tally any extra anonymity to your online locomotion .

Illustration: Chelsea Beck/GMG

Illustration: Chelsea Beck/GMG

Dial back tracking on services

Finally , there are the data point - privacy option inside the services you use , which are deserving survey . By visiting yourad preference pageon Facebook , you could limit the ways in which Facebook can target you , both on and off the societal internet .

Google offer a similaraccount pagewhere you may do everything from opt - out of seeing individualized advert to blue-pencil all of the search you ’ve ever made through Google .

Using as few apps as potential and registering for as few websites as potential plainly reduces the exposure of your personal selective information . But even if you ’re aware of and activate all of these options , remain anonymous on the web is becoming an ever - more thought-provoking undertaking .

Image: Disconnect

Setting up a VPN or DNS service

Installing a VPN ( Virtual Private web ) will dissemble certain bits of identifiable information , such as your current forcible positioning . You should only install a VPN once you ’re entirely certain about what it does and does n’t protect you against — it ’s more of a security measure measure against hackers and eavesdroppers than a cloaking twist .

signal up with a VPN supplier ( you really need to opt for a paid VPN to be sure it ’s reliable ) , and you ’re basically transferring your trust from your ISP to the VPN company , which can see all the situation you visit and everything you ’re doing . Many business firm promiseto not logthis data — but again , it ’s a matter of trustfulness .

The internet site you visit will see the IP destination of the VPN waiter rather than your actual emplacement , but they ’ll still be able toleave biscuit on your political machine , track you across multiple site , and do it who you are if you lumber in anywhere . VPNs can be a utile surplus step in being less traceable , but do n’t trust on them completely to block your personal data leaking out onto the internet .

Image: Screenshot

Alongside VPNs are alternative DNS ( Domain Name System ) providers , likethe recently launched Quad9 service . You need a DNS service to point you to the right place on the vane when you type in a URL . By nonremittal , your web internet browser will expend the one supplied by your ISP , which means it will keep an eye on whatever logging and tracking policies your ISP wants .

As with switching VPNs , shift DNS supplier is n’t unfailing — you’re just put your faith in a different company instead of your ISP — but it ’s another way of disencumber yourself from some of the trailing that ’s happening . Quad9 is move by IBM Security and promises not to garner , store , or betray any data interrelate to your browsing habit .

at last , we ’ll quickly cite HTTPs — the strong versionof HTTP that encrypts data point between you and a website like Facebook or Amazon . Its chief welfare is keeping your data safe and hidden between percentage point A and breaker point B , but in term of trailing , it stops ISPs from collect quite as much data : They can see that you ’re on Amazon , for example , but not what products you ’re looking for .

Image: Screenshot

Many sites now use HTTP by nonpayment , particularly those where you ’re give-up the ghost to be enrol tender entropy like deferred payment poster numbers pool . TheHTTPS everywhere extensionfrom the EFF will ram your desktop or wandering web browser to always use the HTTPS variant of a site , if the website has one available .

This level was raise with support from the Mozilla Foundation as part of its mission to educate individual about their surety and secrecy on the internet .

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