Trackers
The aforementioned “enterprises” can track you through websites.
Luckily the below extensions simply stops them.
Ghostery turns you from; inconspicuous guy with a Trench Coat, pair of Sunglasses, and Fedora; to a ghost! Disconnect is highly recommend option because of its user-friendliness, though Ghostery seemed more efficient/aggressive. Blur is another option, however it has been accused of tracking you through its tracking of your trackers (although I’m sure that’s no longer the case). It not only blocks cookies and social buttons, but also allows you to insert fake emails into forms whose inbox can be forwarded to your real email.
Ghostery’s extension has links to a library of information on specific trackers to help educate users. So users can better chose what they want to block/allow. It too, collects data on the ads you encounter, sending it to advertising companies, but it is opt-in and is called GhostRank.
There’s another problem these extensions solve. Social-media buttons on websites apart from the official website allow:
- Social medias to track you, and sell your info to advertisement companies. These then customize your ads online, and even offline.
- Allow people to get control of your account because of the lack of SSL encryption, when your login credentials are confirmed. (This is called side/widget -jacking)
How these extensions help is explained shortly, but sweetly by priv3, who also have an extension that blocks the social buttons from loading until you interact with them.
