Online Information Safety: Privacy Threats and the Role of Browser Extensions in Data Protection
Overview
This paper examines the safety of personal information online by analyzing how technology companies collect and exploit user data without consent. Using the Ghostery browser extension as a case study, the author demonstrates that 45 trackers were found across frequently visited websites and argues that companies must implement better consent and tracking mechanisms to prevent harm to users.
What this essay covers
- Introduction to online privacy threats and Ghostery extension functionality
- Analysis of tracker data collection across five websites and tracking purposes
- Discussion of unethical data practices and case study of pregnancy advertisements
- Conclusion on the need for privacy safeguards and user consent measures
Preview
How Safe is our Online Information?
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How Safe is our Online Information?
Ghostery extension is an impressive privacy extension tool that blocks ads, speeds up a website, and stops trackers. After installing the browser extension and visiting the most frequently accessed sites, there were 45 trackers. The Ghostery extension had blocked some of these from displaying. The trackers collected included the sites I had visited before when doing online shopping, ads about dating sites, and advertisements about joining social media sites. These blocked trackers were related to what I had searched for on the chrome browser.
After getting a detailed report about the trackers blocked from the Ghostery extension report by visiting five websites, I learned that online companies exploit personal data for profit. Online companies collect personal data and use it to track private online activities, such as purchases, social life status, and other personal data. They use the collected individual information to make advertisements on sites that one visits without their consent.
Technology sites and online companies usually collect people's data, but sometimes they fail to gather their full story information. For example, Brockell (2018) said that she was happy when she used to get advertisements related to pregnancy. She is annoyed that the online companies did not stop sending her ads about purchasing baby clothes after her child's death. The audience data collection companies must have measures to enable customer tracking of information to provide the right promotions. This will prevent hurting people's feelings, as experienced by Brockell.