Catch 'Em Watching You
Now that you know what third-party tracking is, how it's done, and why it's done, it's time to see them in action. The following programs are free and highly effective tools.
LIGHTBEAM
Lightbeam, originally known as Collusion, is an add-on in Firefox that lists third-party trackers on each webpage you visit and can visualize the way they communicate with each other using some pretty-slick graphics.
Some things you should know before installing:
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Collusion was designed in 2011 by Mozilla software developer Atul Varma. Mozilla is the company that makes the Firefox browser. Thus, this add-on is only available for Firefox.
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Mozilla liked the program and collaborated with students at Emily Carr University of Art & Design to further develop the graphics.
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Collusion was further developed with the help of the Ford Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
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The new version of Collusion, renamed Lightbeam, was launched in fall of 2013.
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Lightbeam doesn't send out any data about your activity.
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You can choose to send your data to Mozilla if you want. They claim it sends your data in such a way they can't re-identify you.
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Should you share your data, it will be placed in an open database for users and researchers to better understand tracking.
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For more information, read Lightbeam's entire privacy policy.
After installing Lightbeam, click the Lightbeam icon in the lower right corner of your browser window, or go to the "Tools" pulldown at the top, and "Show Lightbeam," to get to the graphs and data.
Next: Let's Block Trackers
GHOSTERY
Ghostery is a very powerful tool that is strictly informative when first installed. This makes it a great tool for seeing trackers while browsing.
Some notes on Ghostery:
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Ghostery is available on all browser types.
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This program comes with a bit of a loyalty conundrum: It is owned by an advertising company. It can be set up to block data or to share data.
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Ghostery is very simple and highly effective at protecting you from tracking.
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We'll discuss how to set up Ghostery on the next page.
