Privacy and Data Tracking with Sarah Wu
This podcast hosted by Sarah Wu focused on trends in data tracking on the web and the ethical implications associated with it. Tips for individuals and organizations for increasing privacy online, and discussions about public relations crises springing from data tracking and breaches of privacy.
Browsers and Devices
Transcript:
Welcome to the first episode of this new podcast series, Privacy and Data Tracking Online. I’m your host, Sarah Wu. This series focuses on trends in data tracking on the web and the ethical and legal issues that are associated with it. I will provide some tips for individuals and organizations about increasing privacy online and why privacy can be important. I will also discuss issues in the media and the courts about privacy breaches and data tracking.
This episode, about browsers and devices, will give an overview of some of the key issues surrounding data tracking and some simple options to increase individuals’ privacy online.
Now, when we think about data tracking online, a couple of main modalities of technology come to my mind. We have the computers we use, with all their apps and web browsers, as well as our Android or iOS cellphones, and the browsers and apps that we have on them.
Carrying around a cellphone is to me, like carrying around a listening device. It is very easy for hackers to listen to private conversations. But is there more to it than that? How is your location data being captured? What about the text messages you send? Are our cellphones really private? They may not be. We all remember Edward Snowden, the whistle blower who exposed the U.S. Government’s surveillance of the American people, which was being done through the National Security Administration.
Aside from government surveillance, user data is big business. Some of the biggest tech companies are also the biggest online trackers. Google, Meta, Adobe, Twitter, and Microsoft are the top five companies for cross-site trackers, according to Tech Digest.
Cross-site tracking is when websites collect information through cookies that are stored on users’ browsers. Many websites use first-party cookies to remember users’ settings and preferences, and that may not be that invasive to your privacy, but third-party cookies extend the tracking across multiple websites to gain information about user behavior, preferences, and interests. The data from this cross-site tracking is used for targeted advertising, website optimization, and web analytics.
So let’s talk about Google. Google claimed that it was going to get rid of third-party cookies on its Chrome browser but backed out of that commitment in 2024. One browser that I use on my computer and on my phone is DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo promises users privacy, never tracking their searches, blocking most trackers before they load, and blocking optional cookies before they pop up. But it may not be as simple as using a browser and search engine that is designed to give users increased privacy online.
That’s because internet service providers can still track your online activity, and the government potentially can too, if the government is monitoring the internet service providers’ traffic.
When it comes to cellphones, iOS has a reputation for offering more privacy to users by default than Android phones. But with some additional effort from Android users they can increase their privacy and reduce the amount of data that is shared with third parties.
iOS comes with Safari as its browser, and in recent advertising campaigns Safari is pitched as always being private. But some experts suggest it is not as private as one would assume, because it uses Google as the default search engine for users, and it doesn’t always hide users’ IP addresses. These issues are not specific to Safari but do show that what we do online is not as private as we might assume.
So my recommendations are to look for a browser that is designed to increase users’ privacy. There’s DuckDuckGo, and you could also try Brave, which is marketed as a Google alternative and has its own search engine. Or if you don’t want to switch from the browser that you have been using, you could try turning off third-party cookies in your browser, whether you are using the browser on your phone or on a computer.
Well, thanks for listening to this episode of Privacy and Data Tracking Online. In the next episode, we are going to look into cars and data tracking.