BLOCK APPS THAT TRACK YOU

It’s no secret that every time you go online, your activities are being watched. Trackers are endemic across the web, and it’s rare to find a site or app that isn’t embedded with at least one hidden spy.

These invisible elements monitor how you use websites and mobile apps, and analyse that data to target you with customised content and adverts. This may seem harmless and even helpful, but when that information is passed to less trustworthy companies, or the trackers follow you to other websites and apps, it’s a flagrant invasion of your privacy.

Most of us have been unnerved when adverts for Amazon products we’ve searched for appear on other sites, or when Facebook makes suggestions related to things we’ve mentioned privately. Even tools that are supposed to keep our data safe, such as LastPass, have been found to contain built-in trackers (www.snipca.com/37520).

The good news is that some tech companies are now fighting back against trackers – a ‘tracklash’, if you will – to help protect their users’ privacy. Apple improved Safari’s tracker blocking in iOS 14, and will take this further in an upcoming update by blocking all iPhone and iPad apps from tracking users without their consent (see www.snipca.com/37570). Mozilla, meanwhile, has tightened Firefox’s protection against supercookies, and now stops third-party trackers from following you from site to site (see page 52). Even Google has promised to stop using third-party cookies or alternative identifiers “for tracking individual people as they browse the web”, when it introduces its Privacy Sandbox system next year (www.snipca.com/37568).

Welcome though these improvements are, there’s still much more you can do to block the hidden apps and elements that follow you online. In this feature, we explain the best ways to lock down your browser and mobile device against all unwanted and intrusive tracking.

BLOCK TRACKING IN YOUR BROWSER

Is your browser protecting you?

Before you start blocking apps that track you online, it’s useful to know about the type and amount of your data that browsers gather. Most browsers include a ‘do not track’ setting (in Chrome, you’ll find it in Settings, ‘Privacy and security’, then ‘Cookies and other site data’; in Edge it’s in Settings, ‘Privacy, search, and services’ - see screenshot right). However, this is little more than a polite request and many websites ignore it.

To find out just how much information websites can gather, visit Cover Your Tracks (), a new website can see what it can see.