Beware Trackers are Snooping Your Browsing Behaviour
Browsers save your browsing history and read it to gauge your likes, dislikes, social media links, professional associations, financial status.
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Updated November 2026. This was first published on 29 November 2022. The idea is the same. Any number below is what the original piece said then. It is not a new count.
Key takeaways
- Browsers save your browsing history and read it to gauge your likes, dislikes, social media links, professional associations, financial status, and most important of your purchase choices.
- This is how the ad agencies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others create and push ads to potential users.
- Almost 80% of browsers (websites) have in-built trackers such as pixel tags and web beacons to record user activities through cookies, fingerprinting, and trackers.
Browsers save your browsing history and read it to gauge your likes, dislikes, social media links, professional associations, financial status, and most important of your purchase choices. This is how the ad agencies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others create and push ads to potential users.
Browsers Have In-Built Trackers #
Almost 80% of browsers (websites) have in-built trackers such as pixel tags and web beacons to record user activities through cookies, fingerprinting, and trackers.
They guise their claim that they collect the user activities to understand user experience and hence improve the products and services for their users and customers. But, there are some websites that allow third-party tracking apps and tools on their websites for which they charge money.
Anyways, the danger is, that such trackers, know even the personal information such as username, email address, phone number, social security number, IP address, messages users exchange, passwords, banking credentials. browsers and devices you use, which operating systems you use, and other crucial information using which they know you too closely.
Consider a situation, if a credit card seller has a tracking app and integrates it with a website or social media platform that offers free services. It becomes so easy for the credit card seller to collect user identities and then start making calls or sending mass mailers to the users to sell their services and products.
Intended Harm in Your Identity Getting Exposed #
You as a user are clueless about what kind of data a website or search engine records for its analysis, for what purpose, and for how long. For example, Google records the user activity for life.
According to Princeton University’s WebTAP analysis, Google installs its trackers on 75% of the websites that are leaders in their own capacities. Facebook does the same on 25% of the websites.
Google alone tracks what you browse online, what you click, which video you watch (Google owns YouTube), wherever you go through GPS on your smartphone with Android (Google owns Android) and has access to messages and photos if you use Google’s services.
Facebook in its activity logs shows dozens of activities such as your search history on Facebook, videos you watched, groups you searched for, your places, and products your wanted, among others. Apps and websites that you connect with on Facebook are attached and record your activities.
Most of these tracking actually helps in converting a user into a potential buyer of products and services. Although there is apparently no danger if anyone knows your browsing behaviour. But, danger lurks if anyone snoops on you with some special tracker or tracking app.
Following is the table that shows the possible danger of certain data types being exposed.
How to Safeguard Your Identity While You Surf Online To prevent cookies outreach you wherever you are, you must stop such trackers. You can take advantage of several anti-tracking tools and browser extensions.
Anti-Tracking Browser Extensions #
Anti-Tracking Software #
Some desktop-based antivirus software products offer the anti-tracking feature.
Anti-Tracking Apps #
Following is the list of anti-tracking apps for smartphones.
The Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project.
How to use this idea #
Stay with the questions the original already asked. Do not treat them as new proof.
Start with “Browsers Have In-Built Trackers”. Check it against what you can see. The draft did not add a later number for this part.
Start with “Intended Harm in Your Identity Getting Exposed”. Check it against what you can see. The draft did not add a later number for this part.
Start with “Anti-Tracking Browser Extensions”. Check it against what you can see. The draft did not add a later number for this part.
Start with “Anti-Tracking Software”. Check it against what you can see. The draft did not add a later number for this part.
Start with “Anti-Tracking Apps”. Check it against what you can see. The draft did not add a later number for this part.
What the original did not show #
The draft did not include a later count, a new quote, or a promise about today. Read the claims above as a record of the day it was written.
Questions and answers #
What is the main point? #
Browsers save your browsing history and read it to gauge your likes, dislikes, social media links, professional associations, financial status, and most important of your purchase choices.
What else did the original piece say? #
This is how the ad agencies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others create and push ads to potential users.