The latest ad tracking tricks and what to do about them
Ad networks and companies are using increasingly sophisticated methods to track web surfers and spy on user behavior. However, the free web browser Firefox, in particular, makes it hard for these unabashed spies: various extensions block and remove standard cookies, web pixels, and well-hidden LSO cookies (also known as Flash cookies [1]).
A young technology known as canvas fingerprinting does not require tricks like web pixels and LSO cookies and relies instead on standard HTML5 and JavaScript to help data grabbers track user behavior. In many cases, you can even accurately identify users. Because canvas fingerprints do not rely on additional data such as cookies on the system, conventional prevention methods fail.
Evercookies [2] are an older, but also increasingly popular, technique for spying on unsuspecting surfers. This article takes a close look at canvas fingerprinting and Evercookies and offers some options for how to stop these powerful tracking techniques.
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