Every time I open Safari on my laptop, Apple displays a privacy report summary that shows how many trackers it blocked from tracking me. If I look at the report and websites, I always find a few surprises.
Last week, as I reviewed the report here’s what I saw:
- Dozens of trackers with names I’ve never heard of plus a few I recognize.
- Google, of course
- Facebook across multiple sites. I don’t even use Facebook!
When I looked at the websites which attempted to track me, the worst offenders included:
- Any news site
- Accuweather
- Any shopping site
Then I saw my blog site on the list with a Facebook tracker. WTF!?!
I googled this and learned that because I had added the “Facebook Share” button to my site, that it enables a Facebook tracker. Further reading confirmed the same is true for any share button like LinkedIn and Twitter too.
So I fixed this problem by removing all share buttons.
I don’t track my blog readers. Any third party who is trying to do this surreptitiously, I find reprehensible.
Of course it is a common practice on the Internet. So I use ad blockers, site blockers, content blockers and Apple’s Safari privacy functionality to minimize how much I am tracked.
I find it hilarious how some sites I visit have a full screen popup the says, “We see you’re using an ad blocker…Please disable your ad blocker so we can continue to provide you with “free” content or else sign up for a paid subscription. We rely on people like you to support local journalism.”
Um…yeah…nope.
If I can’t click past that popup, then I stop visiting the site. Many times, even if I can click past it, I don’t return because it comes up every time.
I despise full page pop-ups. I hate those quarter page video popups that are now all the rage on many sites like ESPN.
I’l bet nobody likes these – except for the marketing departments that run those websites.
Popups, cross tracking, ads chasing you across the Internet all fall into the same category as SPAM, robocalls, junk mail and door-to-door solicitors.
Nobody likes them. But many companies use them and try to weasel their way around any consumer protections by using tricks like auto-opt ins, user tracking and legalese click buttons to comply with GDPR.
No thanks. I’ll pass.
And if I can’t pass, then I will do my best to avoid you and your business.
I have no illusion that this will make them stop. As long as there is a buck to be made, they’ll continue.