How tech giants track you across the web, even if you don't use their apps

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If you don’t already use ad-blockers: uBlock origin is generally considered the best. A more locked down browser can also help, albeit at the cost of some usability. I’ve used and like LibreWolf and IronFox, have heard the folks at Mullvad have made a browser?

Anyways this is less about privacy tools (which are bandaids on much bigger wounds) and more about the fact companies are able to do this at all. I just don’t like sharing problems with no possible solutions.

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There’s also Waterfox (which is like Librewolf) and, for the truly hardcore, there’s Lynx, which is text-only and runs in the command line.

For what it’s worth, I figure this kind of thing might be tied into the reason we’re seeing so many age verification laws cropping up. You may or may not remember the uproar over Youtube and COPPA back in 2019 – essentially that came about because Youtube was guilty of tracking and targeting underage children, which they’re not supposed to do, and so their solution was to make special changes to videos/channels aimed at children, rather than to simply quit tracking people. Since then it seems a lot of legal measures pitched as “protecting children” have followed the same model of carving out special exceptions for minors rather than actually outlawing exploitative practices.

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Huh, I didn’t realize Waterfox was locked down in a similar way to LibreWolf. Good to know!

And yeah, I do remember the YouTube thing. You’re pretty spot on with your comment there. Though in this most recent wave of laws, it’s more about using kids as a shield to hide behind as an excuse. Something I’m far too familiar with as a queer person.

I’m not 100% sure what to do. I just hope talking about these issues and tools makes people more aware and gives us some very rudimentary protections for the time being.

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I suppose I should clarify, I don’t have the relevant expertise to evaluate much of that myself; I was just naming it as another browser option I know of that’s more pro-privacy than Chrome (low bar to clear).

In general it’s a classic of the politician playbook to talk up the severity of the problem and then advance a “solution” that’s ineffectual and self-serving.

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