|
|
|
|
If you're like most people, you probably don't think very much about online privacy. You have nothing to hide, right, so why would you bother covering up your tracks online? The fact is that if you are using a regular browser like Chrome or Safari, and if you conduct most of your searches through a non-private search engine like Google or Bing, then third-party websites and other unknown entities can track your every move. News websites are some of the worst offenders, with an average of 40 trackers running in the background. The most common trackers are owned by Google and its subsidiaries, plus Facebook and Twitter, but lots are also operated by shady entities in places like Russia and Germany. Even if you go into Chrome's settings and enable the "do not track" feature, those are only voluntary browser requests. Turns out that the biggest tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter don't comply with "do not track" requests.
Taken all together, a ubiquitous tech company like Google can analyze your entire online footprint to paint a remarkably accurate picture of you - both the public and private you. Google and Facebook use that data to sell ads, though hackers might use it for perhaps more sinister purposes. OK, so now you might be thinking, "it's time to make my internet activities more private." Let's look at the different ways you can go about it. The first (and easiest) method would be to go to the browser you normally use and set it to "incognito" status. For instance, if you use Chrome, you click on the three dots at the top right and select New Incognito Window. The little icon of the hat and the glasses will appear plus a dark screen (to remove simple click on the icon and select Exit Incognito.) Other browsers have similar features or names. If you use incognito mode on your browser, it means that information like browsing history or downloaded cookies are not automatically stored on your device.
But your activity might still be visible to the organization providing the internet connection, like a college or corporation. Also, the websites that you visit might still have access to your information. And those settings won't do a thing to stop third-party entities from leaving cookies in your browser or seeing your unique IP address. There's a lack of awareness of just how much data are being collected," says Daniel Davis, communications manager for DuckDuckGo. "People kind of expect that when you use a search engine like Google that your search terms are going to be recorded somewhere and they're going to be tracked. What people don't realize is the extent of the other data that's linked to those search queries and the third parties that it's shared with. But instead of collecting lots of data like Google to serve up "behavioral advertising," DuckDuckGo uses "contextual advertising." That means that it only serves up ads with keywords that are directly related to your search terms.
It's true that search terms include a lot of private information: questions about personal health issues, financial information like your bank name or mortgage lender, loads of geographic data, and even your romantic preferences. But there's a lot of other data that can be tied to those search queries. If you use Gmail, then Google can collect all sorts of information about your online purchases and upcoming travel plans and connect them with your search terms. And if you also use the Google Chrome browser, think of the dizzying amounts of data that can be gleaned from your browser history. Not to mention if you also use Google Maps and other Google products. These private search engines work in ways similar to each other. For instance, you can install the DuckDuckGo browser extension on any major browser simply by going to the DuckDuckGo website. On their homepage will be a large icon inviting you to "Add DuckDuckGo" to Firefox or Chrome or whatever browser you happened to be on.
Articles