Ghostery

Last updated

Ghostery
Developer(s) David Cancel
Christopher Tino
José María Signanini
Serge Zarembsky
Patrick Lawler
Caleb Richelson
Initial release2009;15 years ago (2009)
Stable release
  • Browser extension: 10.4.10 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 14 October 2024
  • Android: 2.4 / March 21, 2019;5 years ago (2019-03-21) [2]
  • iOS: 2.1.0 / October 30, 2018;5 years ago (2018-10-30) [3]
Repository
Operating system
License MPL 2.0 [4]
Website www.ghostery.com

Ghostery is a free and open-source privacy and security-related browser extension and mobile browser application. Since February 2017, it has been owned by the German company Cliqz International GmbH (formerly owned by Evidon, Inc., which was previously called Ghostery, Inc. and the Better Advertising Project). [5] [6] The code was originally developed by David Cancel and associates.

Contents

Ghostery enables its users to detect and control JavaScript "tags" and "trackers" to remove JavaScript bugs and beacons that are embedded in many web pages which allow for the collection of a user's browsing habits via HTTP cookies, as well as participating in more sophisticated forms of tracking such as canvas fingerprinting.

As of 2024, Ghostery is available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari, iOS, Android, and Firefox for Android. [7]

Additionally, Ghostery's privacy team creates profiles of page elements and companies for educational purposes. [8]

Functionality

Blocking

Ghostery blocks HTTP requests and redirects according to their source address in several ways:

  1. Blocking third-party tracking scripts that are used by websites to collect data on user behavior for advertising, marketing, site optimization, and security purposes. These scripts, also known as "tags" or "trackers", are the underlying technology that places tracking cookies on consumers' browsers.
  2. Continuously curating a "script library" that identifies when new tracking scripts are encountered on the Internet and automatically blocks them. [8]
  3. Creating "Whitelists" of websites where third-party script blocking is disabled and other advanced functionality for users to configure and personalize their experience.

When a tracker is blocked, any cookie that the tracker has placed is not accessible to anyone but the user and thus cannot be read when called upon. [9]

Reporting

Ghostery reports all tracking packages detected, and whether Ghostery has blocked them or not, in a "findings window" accessible from clicking on the Ghostery Icon in the browser. When configured, Ghostery also displays the list of trackers present on the page in a temporary purple overlay box. [10]

History and use

Originally developed by David Cancel, Ghostery was acquired by Evidon [11] [12] (renamed Ghostery, Inc.) in January 2010. Ghostery is among the most popular browser extensions for privacy protection. In 2014, Edward Snowden suggested consumers use Ghostery along with other tools to protect their online privacy. [13] Ghostery, Inc. made their software source code open for review in 2010, but did not release further versions of the source code after that. On February 22, 2016, the company released the EULA for the Ghostery browser extension, as a proprietary closed-source product.

Cliqz GmbH acquired Ghostery from Evidon Inc. in February 2017. [14] Cliqz is a German company majority-owned by Hubert Burda Media. Ghostery no longer shares data of any kind with Evidon.

On March 8, 2018, Ghostery shifted back to an open source development model and published their source code on GitHub, [15] saying that this would allow third-party contributions as well as make the software more transparent in its operations. The company said that Evidon's business model "was hard to understand and lent itself to conspiracy theories", and that its new monetization strategy would involve affiliate marketing and the sale of ad analytics data. [16] [17]

In May 2018, in the distribution of an email promoting changes to Ghostery's practices to comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), hundreds of user email addresses were accidentally leaked by listing them as recipients. Ghostery apologized for the incident, stating that they stopped the distribution of the email when they noticed the error, and reported that this was caused by a new in-house email system that accidentally sent the message as a single email to many recipients, rather than sending it individually to each user. [18] [19]

After that Cliqz GmbH has closed, [20] Ghostery Gmbh has become current owner of Ghostery business. And a confirmation of business continuity can also be derived from their location [21] that is still at same address of former Cliqz GmbH company, [22] and because Jean-Paul Schmetz, previous founder of that same former company [23] is currently directing it together with Heinz Spengler. [24]

Features

Ad-Blocking

Ad-Blocking includes banners, pop-ups, and video ads. [25]

Anti-Tracking

Added from Cliqz after owning Ghostery, it uses a heuristic, AI approach to determine if those trackers are sending unsafe data. [26]

This feature stops cookie pop-ups by automatically rejecting unneeded third-party cookies and preserves user privacy. [27]

Criticism

Under its former owner Evidon, Ghostery had an opt-in feature called GhostRank. GhostRank took note of ads encountered and blocked, then sent that information back to advertisers who could then use that data to change their ads to avoid further being blocked; although this feature is meant to incentivize advertisers to create less intrusive ads and thus a better web experience, the data can just as easily be used to create more malicious ads that escape detection. [28]

Not everyone sees Evidon's business model as conflict-free. Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford graduate student and privacy advocate, has said: "Evidon has a financial incentive to encourage the program's adoption and discourage alternatives like Do Not Track and cookie blocking as well as to maintain positive relationships with intrusive advertising companies". [29]

In July 2018, with version 8.2, Ghostery started showing advertisements of its own to users. [30] Burda claims that the advertisements do not send personal data back to their servers and that they do not create a personal profile. [31] This was a program call Ghostery Rewards and has been discontinued. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

Ad blocking or ad filtering is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods.

Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storage, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and display of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large-scale computer sharing and especially relate to mass surveillance.

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Analytics</span> Web analytics service from Google

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic and also mobile app traffic & events, currently as a platform inside the Google Marketing Platform brand. Google launched the service in November 2005 after acquiring Urchin.

NoScript is a free and open-source extension for Firefox- and Chromium-based web browsers, written and maintained by Giorgio Maone, a software developer and member of the Mozilla Security Group.

A browser extension is a software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow users to install a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web pages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted advertising</span> Form of advertising

Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DuckDuckGo</span> American software company and Web search engine

DuckDuckGo is an American software company with a focus on online privacy. The flagship product is a search engine that has been praised by privacy advocates. Subsequent products include browser extensions and a custom DuckDuckGo web browser.

Web tracking is the practice by which operators of websites and third parties collect, store and share information about visitors' activities on the World Wide Web. Analysis of a user's behaviour may be used to provide content that enables the operator to infer their preferences and may be of interest to various parties, such as advertisers. Web tracking can be part of visitor management.

AdBlock is an ad-blocking browser extension for Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Firefox, Samsung Internet, Microsoft Edge and Opera. AdBlock allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being displayed. It is free to download and use, and it includes optional donations to the developers. The AdBlock extension was created on December 8, 2009, which is the day that supports for extensions was added to Google Chrome. It was one of the first Google Chrome extensions that was made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epic (web browser)</span> Indian Web Browser based on chromium

Epic is an Indian proprietary privacy-centric web browser developed by Hidden Reflex using Chromium source code. Epic is always in private browsing mode, and exiting the browser deletes all browser data. The browser's developers claim that Google's tracking code has been removed, and that blocks other companies from tracking the user.

Evidon is a New York City-based company dealing in enterprise marketing analytics and compliance services.

IronVest, is a browser extension biometric fraud prevention company that develops and markets fraud prevention products for consumers and businesses, founded in 2022. The IronVest consumer security and privacy app and browser extension evolved from Blur, a privacy product designed to block trackers and provide masking tools, developed by Abine, a privacy company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and first released for Firefox in March 2011. There is a free version, and a paid one with more features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privacy Badger</span> Browser extension

Privacy Badger is a free and open-source browser extension for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera, and Firefox for Android created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Its purpose is to promote a balanced approach to internet privacy between consumers and content providers by blocking advertisements and tracking cookies that do not respect the Do Not Track setting in a user's web browser. A second purpose, served by free distribution, has been to encourage membership in and donation to the EFF.

uBlock Origin Web browser extension

uBlock Origin is a free and open-source browser extension for content filtering, including ad blocking. The extension is available for Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Pale Moon, as well as versions of Safari before 13. uBlock Origin has received praise from technology websites and is reported to be much less memory-intensive than other extensions with similar functionality. uBlock Origin's stated purpose is to give users the means to enforce their own (content-filtering) choices.

Google's changes to its privacy policy on March 16, 2012, enabled the company to share data across a wide variety of services. These embedded services include millions of third-party websites that use AdSense and Analytics. The policy was widely criticized for creating an environment that discourages Internet innovation by making Internet users more fearful and wary of what they do online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brave (web browser)</span> Chromium-based open-source web browser

Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Software, Inc. based on the Chromium web browser. Brave is a privacy-focused browser, which automatically blocks most advertisements and website trackers in its default settings. Users can turn on optional ads that reward them for their attention in the form of Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which can be used as a cryptocurrency or to make donations to registered websites and content creators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliqz</span> Web browser developed by Cliqz GmbH

Cliqz was a privacy-oriented web browser and search engine developed by Cliqz GmbH and majority-owned by Hubert Burda Media. It was available as a desktop and mobile web browser as well as an extension for Firefox itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spy pixel</span> Hidden images to track viewing of emails

Spy pixels or tracker pixels are hyperlinks to remote image files in HTML email messages that have the effect of spying on the person reading the email if the image is downloaded. They are commonly embedded in the HTML of an email as small, imperceptible, transparent graphic files. Spy pixels are commonly used in marketing, and there are several countermeasures in place that aim to block email tracking pixels. However, there are few regulations in place that effectively guard against email tracking approaches.

Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) is a type of web tracking. It groups people into "cohorts" based on their browsing history for the purpose of interest-based advertising. FLoC was being developed as a part of Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative, which includes several other advertising-related technologies with bird-themed names. Despite "federated learning" in the name, FLoC does not utilize any federated learning.

References

  1. ↑ "Release 10.4.10". October 14, 2024. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Releases · ghostery/browser-android", GitHub, March 21, 2019
  3. ↑ "Ghostery Privacy Browser on the App Store". iTunes . Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  4. ↑ "ghostery/ghostery-extension". GitHub. December 19, 2022.
  5. ↑ "CLIQZ and Ghostery join forces to defend your privacy". CLIQZ. February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  6. ↑ Ghostery Team. "Ghostery is Acquired by Cliqz!". Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Ghostery Tracker & Ad Blocker". www.ghostery.com. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  8. 1 2 Attacking Tracking: They're Watching You (Video). Fox News. March 15, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Prevent 3rd party script from setting cookies (specifically Google adsense)". Stack Overflow. July 29, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ "How does Ghostery work? (Dead link)". www.ghostery.com. Ghostery, Inc. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  11. ↑ Pierce, Jon (2010). "Github - Ghostery Source Code". Github. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Better Advertising Acquires Ghostery". Archived from the original on October 2, 2011.
  13. ↑ Storm, Darlene (March 10, 2014). "Snowden at SXSW: We need better encryption to save us from the surveillance state". www.computerworld.com. computerworld. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Private search browser Cliqz buys Ghostery ad-tracker tool". techcrunch.com. February 15, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Ad-Blocker Ghostery Just Went Open Source—And Has a New Business Model". wired.com. March 8, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  16. ↑ "This tool to block web tracking software just went open-source so you see exactly what it's up to". CNET. March 8, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  17. ↑ Conger, Kate. "Ad Blocker Ghostery Is Going Open Source to Win Back Some Privacy Points". Gizmodo. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  18. ↑ Dellinger, AJ. "Ad Blocker Ghostery Celebrates GDPR Day by Revealing Hundreds of User Email Addresses". Gizmodo. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Ghostery Email Incident Update". Ghostery. May 26, 2018. Archived from the original on May 28, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  20. ↑ Team, Cliqz (April 29, 2020). "Cliqz". Cliqz. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Terms and Conditions". Ghostery. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Contact". Cliqz. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  23. ↑ "About - Cliqz" . Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Imprint". Ghostery. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Ghostery Privacy Suite Review". PCMAG. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  26. ↑ Barrett, Brian. "Ghostery Deploys AI in the Fight Against Ad Trackers". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  27. ↑ Morrison, Sara (September 14, 2022). "Cookie pop-ups have taken over the internet. Here's how to stop them". Vox. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  28. ↑ Henry, Alan (June 19, 2013). "Ad-Blocker Ghostery Actually Helps Advertisers, If You 'Support' It". LifeHacker.com. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  29. ↑ Simonite, Tom (June 17, 2013). "Popular Ad Blocker Also Helps the Ad Industry". Mashable. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Ghostery FAQ - What is Ghostery Rewards?". Archived from the original on May 26, 2018. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  31. ↑ "Ghostery-Erweiterung blendet Werbung ein". Heise (in German). July 10, 2018.
  32. ↑ Matsakis, Louise (March 8, 2018). "Ad-Blocker Ghostery Just Went Open Source—And Has a New Business Model". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
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