BLOCK ALL TOOLS THAT TRACK YOU
Block more trackers in web pages
All the main web browsers now include tracking protection, though some (Brave and Firefox) do a much better job than others (Chrome and Edge) through their ‘strict’ or ‘aggressive’ settings. However, to stay completely private online by blocking every hidden tracker on every website, you need ublock Origin (www.snipca. com/50113).
This brilliant extension now has around 55 million users worldwide, but it’s still not as well known as inferior rivals such as Adblock and Adblock Plus. Even if you already use ublock Origin to block ads, trackers and annoyances, you may not realise it has additional options for blocking further privacy risks.
Right-click the add-on’s toolbar button, choose Options and click the ‘Filter lists’ tab. Click the arrow next to Privacy and tick the boxes Adguard Tracking Protection and Adguard URL Tracking Protection – as well as Easy Privacy if it isn’t enabled ( 1 in our screenshot below). These augment ublock Origin’s own filters with rules from freemium service Adguard to provide comprehensive, constantly updated protection against the latest trackers – including those hidden in web addresses. Click ‘Apply changes’ then ‘Update now’ 2.
Annoyingly, Google’s new Manifest V3 system, which it’s introducing this year, will limit content blockers to using 30,000 filtering rules – ublock Origin currently uses around 300,000 – which will make them less eective at blocking ads and trackers. To beat this restriction, ublock Origin has created a Lite version for Manifest V3 (www.snipca.com/50116) that lets you configure its filters on a site-by-site basis, by choosing from Basic, Optimal or Complete filtering modes.
Block trackers in Windows software
Tools such as ublock Origin make it easy to block trackers in your browser, but it’s more dicult to avoid them in other software on your PC. Many programs now include tracking elements that connect to the internet in the background to share details of your activities with developers, advertisers and data brokers – and potentially criminals.
You can block these hidden trackers using a new open-source tool called Zen (www.snipca.com/50118 – go to the Downloads section under the program description), not related to Zen Internet. This free ad-blocker and privacy guard sets up a proxy that intercepts tracking requests from internet servers and blocks any containing ads, tracking scripts, malware and other unwanted content. By working at a system level, Zen protects your PC against threats that browser extensions miss, such as trackers embedded in Windows software and system components.
Download and run either the x64 installer or portable version of Zen, clicking ‘More info’ then ‘Run anyway’ when you see the Microsoft Defender Smartscreen warning – it’s completely safe to use. When you first open the program, click Start then Yes to install its root certificate, which allows it to check and modify HTTPS requests – this certificate is privately generated and stored on your PC.
Once this is done, Zen will start showing blocked requests on its Home tab (see screenshot left). To boost its protection, click the ‘Filter lists’ tab and switch on ‘Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list’ – further filters can be enabled in the dropdown menu. If you have trouble loading a particular website or program, click Stop to disconnect from the proxy.
Although Zen isn’t as powerful as paid-for solutions, such as Adguard’s Windows app (www.snipca.com/50119), it’s easy to use and you don’t need to sign up for an account.
Remove tracking elements from URLS
Many URLS on websites – including Google search results, Amazon product pages and social-media posts – contain extra code after the main web address. This is usually for analytics purposes, to tell site owners when you clicked the link, the country you’re browsing from and the device you’re using, but the code can also be used to track you around the web.
To stop this happening, install the extension Clearurls in your Chromium (www.snipca.com/50120) or Firefox browser (www.snipca.com/50121). This protects your privacy by automatically removing tracking elements from URLS, and letting you click through to pages without being redirected through a third-party service.
You can see how many elements the extension has blocked by clicking its toolbar button and checking the Statistics section in the information panel (see screenshot below). If Clearurls prevents some sites from loading properly, click
the Settings cog and switch o ‘Allow domain blocking’.
Incidentally, Brave and Firefox now let you remove tracking elements when you copy links from web pages. In the former, right-click the link and choose ‘Copy clean link’; and in the latter, select Copy Link Without Site Tracking.
Don’t get tricked by cookie consent pop-ups
Cookie-consent pop-ups are supposed to give you more control over the data websites collect about you, but are often so confusing that you end up agreeing to be tracked. The popular extension
I Don’t Care About Cookies solves the annoyance of these pop-ups by automatically hiding them, but it also allows sites to install cookies.
Consent-o-matic is a lesser-known but more private alternative, which rejects all cookies by default and hides consent banners. Available for Chromium browsers (www.snipca.com/50122), Firefox (www. snipca.com/50123) and Safari on IOS (www.snipca.com/50125), it lets you configure its settings to permit essential cookies while blocking tracking ones.
Click its toolbar button, choose More Add-on Settings and, on the Your Choice tab, select the categories of cookies you’re happy to allow. For example, ‘Preferences and Functionality’ ( 1 in our screenshot below) enables sites to store data such as your login details and personalisation settings, while ‘Ad selection, delivery, and reporting’ 2 gives them permission to track you.
You can add extra rules to Consent-omatic to improve its detection and blocking of cookie pop-ups. Click the Rule Lists tab and copy the URL of a rule list into the Add List box – get the one used by I Don’t Care About Cookies from www. snipca.com/50124.
Stop content-delivery networks tracnkindg you
Lots of websites now rely on third-party services to provide some of their content, including images, videos and fonts. Known as content-delivery networks (CDNS), these services help to speed up page-loading times, but they’re also able to track you around the web. This is because once you’ve viewed their content on one site, they can follow you to the next site that uses their network.
Blocking CDNS may cause sites to break, but you can stop them tracking you by installing Decentraleyes in your Chromium (www.snipca.com/50126) or Firefox browser (www.snipca. com/50127). This extension cuts out the CDN middleman by tricking websites into loading its own, locally stored files to display content.
By doing so, Decentraleyes protects your privacy without a ecting your browsing – you can see how many resources it’s replaced on pages by clicking its toolbar button.
It works in tandem with content blockers such as ublock Origin, and without you needing to configure its settings. If you have trouble loading a site, click the power button (see screenshot above) to disable the add-on’s protection.
Block hidden trackers in mobile apps
Some trackers embedded in mobile apps collect data about your activities to share with advertisers and other companies, not only within the apps themselves but in other apps installed on your phone or tablet. This is why you often see ads and sponsored content relating to things you’ve looked at in one app appearing in a completely di erent tool.
The excellent Duckduckgo Private
Browser for Android (www.snipca. com/50131) prevents this from happening using its App Tracking Protection feature. As well as blocking hidden trackers in sites you visit in the browser, it refuses tracking requests in other apps on your Android device. This stops them collecting data about you while still allowing the permissions they require to work.
To activate the feature, tap the three-dot menu in Duckduckgo Private Browser, select Settings and enable App Tracking Protection. Tap ‘OK’ to allow Duckduckgo to set up a VPN on your device – this isn’t a proper VPN but allows the browser to block trackers at a network level. Duckduckgo will tell you how many tracking attempts it’s blocked in apps in the past seven days (see screenshot below), and the apps and tracking companies responsible.
Duckduckgo’s IOS browser (www. snipca.com/50133) doesn’t include this feature, but your iphone or ipad has its own setting for blocking app tracking. Select ‘Privacy & Security’ in the Settings app, tap Tracking and switch o the option ‘Allow Apps to Request to Track’. When this is disabled, all new app tracking requests are automatically denied.