A general internet user is unaware that websites and applications are tracking their activities and information on a massive scale. This user data collection fuels advertising, personalized content, and analytics databases. At times, your consent is taken for collecting this data—but—a good number of times, it is done silently. In this tutorial, we learn practical tips to block and restrict website tracking attempts in general. Although a complete blockage is almost impossible, we can greatly reduce it to the bare minimum protecting our online privacy. Let's get started and reclaim our private data.
Most modern browsers don't protect you from tracking attempts, by default. You have to manually take measures to counter this tracking activity. That's what we'll learn in this detailed guide.
Regardless of the desktop operating system you are using, the tricks mentioned can be applied everywhere with minor or no changes. All the tips are safe to implement and don't affect your data.
1. Understand How Websites Track You
Before we dive into various methods to stop and minimize tracking, let's understand how websites and applications track you on the internet. Gaining this knowledge is essential to easily implement the blocking techniques mentioned below.
- Cookies: These mysterious entities are small-sized files holding information related to your logins, website preferences, and other activities to your site's interaction. They can be divided into two different categories.
- First-party cookies: Most of the time, first-party cookies should not be a matter of concern for you. These cookies generally store legitimate data like login session information or website preferences (e.g., light or dark mode).
- Third-party cookies: These are the ones you need to pay attention to. These cookies store information about your browsing habits and your profile details to serve relevant ads.
- Fingerprinting: This is a technique used to identify you and your device among millions of internet users. It's an advanced technique to collect information about your web browser, operating system, and other device attributes to create a unique profile that identifies you correctly. It eliminates the need for the use of cookies.
- IP Address Tracking: It's one of the most common tracking techniques to identify your geolocation to serve relevant ads and location-specific content for subscribers.
- Social Media Widgets: Another group of trackers are the social sharing buttons embedded on the web pages. Even if a visitor does not interact with them, they are known to collect information about your browsing activities. It helps these companies in creating your profile for targeted advertising.
- JavaScript Trackers: Business websites often create specialized JavaScript trackers to record user interaction on a website in detail. This includes click and scroll events. It can also record your entire session behaviour on that website which is then used to serve advertisements.
2. Browser Extensions: Your First Line of Defense
One of the best ways to combat tracking is to install privacy-focused browser extensions. Almost all modern web browsers support these extensions. Here's a list of the best browser extensions you can use to limit or stop tracking.
Ad and Tracker Blockers
The first extension I'll recommend installing is the one that blocks both advertisements and tracking scripts from loading on the web page. These extensions automatically cut off at least half of the tracking activities.
uBlock Origin is one of the most popular and result-oriented ad and tracking blockers available for all modern web browsers. Install and activate it—without giving a second thought.
Privacy Badger
This powerful privacy-focused extension is made by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Privacy Badger quietly works in the background learning about new and invisible trackers.
It accumulates information about trackers in its database and automatically blocks any tracking attempts from hard-to-detect invisible trackers. If you care about your privacy, definitely install this one.
Decentraleyes
Another must-have extension is Decentraleyes which not only prevents you to connect with blaclisted CDNs but also reduce reliance on 3rd-arty CDN for fetching commonly-used libraries and scripts.
This significantly reduces tracking done by these content delivery networks. You can perform a simple test if your browser can connect such CDNs that can track your browsing activities.
Script Blockers
The extensions that fall under this category can be used to cherry-pick and control the execution of JavaScript code that may track or perform malicious activities.
NoScript is a well known web browser extension that enables you to easily block selective JavaScript code. It's one of the best extensions to protect you against XSS attacks and tracking scripts.
ClearURLs
This is yet another powerful extension to block URL-based tracking. ClearURLs automatically removes all the tracking parameters added to a URL protecting you against collection of browsing-related data.
Apart from tracking parameter removal, this extension also block some of the most common ad-related domains. It works efficiently in the background and has the ability to clean multiple URLs, at once.
Ghostery
And last but not least, Ghostery browser extension blocks ads and trackers keeping your browsing experience both clutter-free and private. It can also block popups.
It is also known for its slick and user-friendly interface that gives a ton of information about blocked entities. You can also use it for private search queries to avoid tracking attempts on your search history.
3. Adjust Browser Settings for Maximum Privacy
Modern web browsers now include several features that protect your online privacy. All you need to make sure these settings are turned on or configured correctly. Let's take a look at these settings.
Block Third-Party Cookies
You must restrict storage of third-party cookies on your web browser. It'll reduce the tracking ability of websites and web applications by many folds. Here's how to do it.
- In Chrome: Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies → Block third-party cookies option.
- In Firefox: Go to the Settings → Privacy & Security → Enhanced Tracking Protection option. Here, choose the Strict option to ensure all 3rd-party cookies are blocked.
Enable Do Not Track
You can send a Do Not Track signal to websites for not tracking you upon a visit. Although complaince to this signal sent by user is not mandatory for websites, still it's a good practice to send such a signal.
There's a new signal Tell websites not to sell or share my data that is more prevelant and is honnored by good number of websites. If your web browser supports it, you must enable it.
- In Firefox: Go to the Settings → Privacy and Security → Website Privacy Preferences section. Make sure the check box is checked for the Tell websites not to sell or share my data option.
Enforce HTTPS
The secure version of HTTP protocol is HTTPS and that's what every website must switch too. This protocol ensures that communication between a website and your browser is encrypted making the job harder for trackers and data sniffers. Here's how to enable HTTPS-only mode in your web browser.
- In Firefox: Go to the Settings → Privacy and Security → HTTPS-Only Mode section. Here, choose the Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows option.
- In Chrome: Go to the Settings → Privacy and security → Security → Secure connections section. Here's make sure the Always use secure connections option is toggled on.
Disable WebRTC Leak
Through the WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) technology, web browser let you do real-time communication like video conferencing or file sharing.
But, using this technology can leak your IP address too. If you want to prevent that, you need to disable WebRTC in your web browser. You can disable it as follows:
- In Firefox: Type
about:configin the address bar. In the advanced settings page, find the media.peerconnection.enabled option and set it to false. - In Chrome: Use the WebRTC Control extension to enable and disable it—easily.
4. Use a VPN (But Know Its Limits)
One of the best ways to prevent device identification and tracking prevention is the use of a VPN. It effectively encrypts your traffic and hides your IP address too. So, invest in a reliable VPN to reclaim your online privacy.
But, when using a VPN, there are some limitations you must be aware of:
- Using a VPN doesn't mean you get automatic protection from cookie blocking or prevention of browser fingerprinting.
- Not every VPN is fully secure and privacy-oriented. Some VPNs log your IP addresses. Choose the one that has a no-logging policy.
- You must complement your VPN connection with the privacy-focused browser extensions mentioned in section two of this guide.
5. Combat Fingerprinting
Now cookies are easy to block. But, when it comes to block fingerprinting, things get a bit complex and require much more work at your end. Here are few things you can do to combat it effectively.
Use Anti-Fingerprinting Browsers
You can several web browsers built with anti-fingerprinting features. Instead of using your default browser, switch to these for better protection of your data. Both Brave and Tor Browser come with excellent features to combat fingerprinting. Try them out, today!
Spoof User-Agent
One of the ways tracking systems identify your web browser is the user-agent string. You can spoof it to make your web browser appear as a generic one to dodge these tracking systems. Install User-Agent Switcher extension to anonymize your browser details. It's available for both Chrome and Firefox.
Disable Unnecessary Features
Certain advanced features within web browsers provide data to fingerprinting systems for creating your unique profile. You can disable these features to minimize the fingerprinting data available for such tracking systems.
WebGL, WebRTC, and Canvas APIs are some of these advanced features that needs to be disabled. In one of the previous sections, I've already discussed about how to disable WebRTC in your browser.
- In Firefox: Open the
about:configpage and find thewebgl.disabledsetting. Set it to true to disable WebGL. - In Chrome: Open the
chrome://flagspage and find theDisable WebGLattribute. Enable this flag and restart the browser to disable WebGL.
6. Manage Cookies and Site Data Effectively
As mentioned in the first section, cookies are one of the primary entities tracking systems use to spy on you. Managing them correctly and effectively is the key to combat tracking scripts. Let's see some of the ways we can do it, correctly.
Delete Cookies on Exit
Most modern browsers support cookie deletion on exit. You must use this feature to wipe out cookies every time you close the browser. You can configure it as follows:
- In Firefox: Go to the Settings → Privacy and Security → History section. Here, click the Settings... button for the Clear history when Firefox closes option. In the dialogue box, make sure you've checked the Cookies and site data option.
- In Chrome: Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Additional content settings → On-device site data page. Here, select the Delete data sites that have been saved to your device when you close all windows option.
Use Container Tabs
If you are using Firefox, Multi-Account Containers extension is a powerful tool to isloate cookies from websites keeping them in separate containers. This effectivly combats cross-site tracking abilities of malicious scripts. Here's a complete guide on how to use these multi-account containers in Firefox.
Automatic Cookie Deletion
We talked about cookie deletion on browser exit. But, what about cookie deletion on tab close event? Yes, that's one more way to get rid of tracking cookies in real time. Use extensions like Cookie AutoDelete to wipe out all the cookies for the domain, whenever you close the tab.
7. Switch to Privacy-Focused Services
The most popular online services that are run by renowned companies are the ones that track and spy on you the most. Find the alternatives of these services to minimize the tracking attempts. Let's take a look at some of the privacy-focused alternatives we can try.
Search Engines
There are several search engines that do not track you making your search history, completely private. Instead of using your default search engine, try out the ones that are more secure and private. Here's a list of 5 best privacy-focused search engines that keeps you searches secure and private.
Email Providers
The same applies to email services. If you want an email service that keeps your data completely private and secure, switch to either Proton Mail or Tuta. Both of them gives you the highest level of security without any tracking.
Disposable Emails
Whenever signing up for any new service, newsletter, or similar type of activity, we often use our primary email address. It's not a good practice as it distributes your email address to large number of websites who may not be storing customer data in a secure manner.
To counter this, use temporary email addresses to ensure your primary address remains hidden and is only used for the most important services.
8. Block Social Media Trackers
Both social sharing widgets and social login buttons are a way to keep track of your activities on the internet. The best way is to stay away from both these tracking systems. Here's how you can avoid both.
Use uBlock Origin
We've discussed about uBlock Origin in one of the sections above. It is without any doublt one of the best antti-tracking extensions. By default, it does not block social media widgets.
Open the extension's settings page and go to the Filter lists tab. Here, you can find the Social widgets section. Expand it and check all the blocking lists as shown above. This will effectively block all the social sharing widgets and buttons across all the websites.
Avoid Social Logins
Nowadays, most online services and web applications provide options of both signing up through an email or through social login buttons. Avoid the latter method as it paves the way to track your activities on the website. Go with the old school method of signing up with an email address.
Use Privacy-Focused Social Media
Another way to combat online tracking is to use privacy-focused social media services. For example, you can use Mastodon as an alternative of X (Formerly Twitter), and Signal for instant messaging. Both these seevices do not track your activities and keep your personal information private.
9. Audit Your Privacy Regularly
From time to time, make it a habit to check if your anti-tracking measures are working correctly or you need to tweak and enhance them. This includes functioning of the browser extensions and any other settings you have done within your browser.
EFF’s Cover Your Tracks
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has developed a Cover Your Tracks tool to test if your browser has a unique fingerprint. It gives you a detailed report about the same.
You can analyze the report's data to take the necessary measures to harden and improve your online privacy. Do run it once in your web browser and get a detailed report to see if your anti-tracking measures are effective enough or not.
Browser Developer Tools
For tech-savy and advanced users, browser's developer tools panel can help you scan and find the requests a web page is making. This way you can easily find out the tracking scripts.
To access this panel, right-click on the web page and select the Inspect option from the context menu. Thereafter, switch to the Network tab and reload the page to see all the requests made by that page.
10. Balance Privacy and Functionality
Remember, in the name of hardening your web browser against tracking activities, do not block the necessary cookies and functionalities that are needed for proper functioning of your logged in sessions. You have to find the right balance between functionality and tracking protection.
Whitelist Trusted Sites
Almost all of the ad and tracking blocker extensions gives you an option to whitelist websites. The cookies and scripts loaded through these whitelisted websites are not blocked by the extension giving you a smooth and uninterruptive experience.
If you are using the uBlock Origin extension, open its settings page and go to the Trusted sites tab. Here, you can type in the domain names of all your trusted websites you want to exclude from blocking rules.
Start Simple
If you are technically challenged and new to countering online privacy, start with installing a good ad and tracking blocking extension. First, let it run with its default settings. Afterward, you can explore its advanced options to further refine and tweak the blocking rules.
As you get more comfortable with it, start adding more extensions and customizing browser built in settings to combat tracking scripts. It's all about going slow and moving step by step ahead to avoid breaking any feature and functionality.
Conclusion
Protecting your online privacy doesn't require sacrificing the convenience and functionality of the internet. By implementing a combination of browser extensions, adjusting browser settings, and choosing privacy-respecting services, you can effectively block invasive tracking while still enjoying your favorite websites.
Remember to start with simple steps, experiment with different tools, and stay informed about the latest privacy threats and solutions. Your data is valuable, and taking control of it is essential for a safer and more private online experience.
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