Adblock Plus Firefox Helps to Block Internet Tracking
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) July 16, 2013 -- idcloak publishes a new article which raises awareness of the privacy and security benefits that follow the use of adblocking software.
The publication – Adblock Plus Firefox helps Block Internet Tracking – begins by introducing a problem: web adverts carry tracking pixels and cookies that allow the ad owners to monitor users' movements across the web.
These parties may then use the gathered information to build up profiles of internet users according to their values and interests, which may then be used to target adverts at them.
Because many advertisers share information through syndicates, the level of detail in these profiles some may find invasive.
“There is enormous potential for abuse of ad-driven profiling,” says idcloak’s lead researcher, Robin Welles, “if not by the tracking companies themselves, then by hackers or governments who may one day get hold of the profiles. You simply don't know where this information will end up.”
The article then goes on to show that by installing Adblock Plus Firefox extensions, a user can prevent ads from being downloaded and thereby stop the embedded web bugs and tracking cookies from reaching their machine.
“Most users of adblockers are only interested in getting rid of annoying ads,” says Welles, “they are quite unaware of the excellent privacy protection they receive as a bonus.”
The article additionally underlines how adblocking software protects against malware hidden inside adverts. Well-known sites have been known to suffer hacks whereupon malware was automatically delivered to unsuspecting visitors through the ads on the page.
As explained, however, Welles underlines that adblocker extensions are only one piece in a wider protection puzzle, “Beating surveillance, tracking and malware requires several technologies to be deployed together. This is to be expected, as the attacks are themselves delivered in a variety of ways.”
To learn more about anti-tracking and government surveillance, Welles recommends: What is Utah Data Center? - an earlier article which draws parralels between ad-driven profiling and NSA surveillance.
idcloak.com is a developer of anonymous proxies designed to mask user identity online. For more on their work, see: How to change IP address? or visit http://www.idcloak.com
Written by Gill-Chris Welles
Gill-Chris Welles, idcloak Technologies Inc., http://www.idcloak.com, 786-210-9230, [email protected]
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