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Thread: Blacklight. (Online security asset)

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    Scotland Avalon Member Ewan's Avatar
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    Default Blacklight. (Online security asset)

    An Online resource that can provide a little peace of mind maybe.

    "Who is peeking over your shoulder while you work, watch videos, learn, explore, and shop on the internet? Enter the address of any website, and Blacklight will scan it and reveal the specific user-tracking technologies on the site—and who’s getting your data. You may be surprised at what you learn."

    Quote

    A Real-Time Website Privacy Inspector
    By Surya Mattu



    Enter a URL for Blacklight to scan

    Blacklight is currently testing for …

    Blacklight normally takes between 30 seconds and one minute to finish all tests.

    Ad trackers

    Is this website sending data about users to advertising companies?
    Third-party cookies

    Is this website using cookies that track users around the web?
    Tracking that evades cookie blockers

    Is this website invisibly identifying your browser?
    Session-monitoring scripts

    Blacklight looks for scripts that record how a user interacts with a page.
    Keystroke capturing

    Is this website logging text typed by users, before they hit submit?
    Facebook

    Is this website sending data about users to Facebook?

    Google Analytics

    Is this website sending data to Google so it can advertise to its visitors?

    Visited cloudflare.com on Mar. 3, 2022, 07:38 ET


    Blacklight visited cloudflare.com with a headless browser, running custom software built by The Markup. The browser emulates an iPhone, so the server loads the mobile version of the site. For this test …


    Blacklight Inspection Result

    Blacklight works by visiting each website with a headless browser running custom software built by The Markup. To learn more read our methodology.


    Ad trackers found on this site. This is less than half the average of seven that we found on popular sites.

    Websites containing advertising tracking technology load Javascript code or small invisible images that are used to either build your advertising profile or to identify you for ad targeting on this site. These techniques are often used in addition to cookies to profile you.

    Blacklight detected trackers on this page sending data to companies involved in online advertising. Blacklight detected scripts belonging to the companies TowerData, Inc. and Alphabet, Inc..

    Third-party cookies were found. This is less than the average of three that we found on popular sites.

    These are commonly used by advertising tracking companies to profile you based on your internet usage.

    Blacklight detected 2 third-party cookies on this site. Blacklight detected cookies set for Alphabet, Inc. and TowerData, Inc..


    Tracking that evades cookie blockers wasn't found.

    Canvas fingerprinting was not detected on this website. This technique is designed to identify users even if they block third-party cookies. It can be used to track users across sites. It secretly draws an image on your browser when you visit websites that use it, for the purpose of identifying your device. This technique was used by six percent of popular sites when we scanned them in September 2020.

    Session recording services not found on this website.

    Blacklight did not detect the use of a session recorder, which tracks user mouse movement, clicks, taps, scrolls, or even network activity. Websites that use the technique compile this data into videos and heat maps that website owners can watch to see how users interact with the site. Research has shown these practices are insecure and make sensitive user data such as passwords and credit card information more vulnerable to leaks. This technique was used by fifteen percent of popular websites when we scanned them in September 2020.

    We did not find this website capturing keystrokes.

    Key logging is when a website captures the text that you type into a web page before you hit the submit button. This technique has been used to identify anonymous web users by matching them to postal addresses and real names. This technique was used by four percent of popular websites when we scanned them in September 2020.

    Facebook Pixel not found on this website.

    The Facebook pixel is a snippet of code that sends data back to Facebook about people who visit this site and allows the site operator to later target them with ads on Facebook. A Facebook spokesperson told The Markup that the company set up this system so that a user doesn’t have to be “simultaneously logged into Facebook and viewing a third-party website for our business tools to function.” Common actions that can be tracked via pixel include viewing a page or specific content, adding payment information, or making a purchase. The Facebook pixel appeared in thirty percent of popular websites when we scanned them in September 2020.


    This site allows Google Analytics to follow you across the internet.

    This site uses Google Analytics and seems to use its ”remarketing audiences” feature that enables user tracking for targeted advertising across the internet. This feature allows a website to build custom audiences based on how a user interacts with this particular site and then follow those users across the internet and target them with advertising on other sites using Google Ads and Display & Video 360. A Google spokesperson told The Markup that site operators are supposed to inform visitors when data collected with this feature is used to connect this browsing data with someone’s real-world identity. You know when those shoes you were looking at follow you around the internet? This is one of the trackers leading to that. This feature appeared in fifty percent of popular websites when we scanned them in September 2020.


    Some of the ad-tech companies this website interacted with:

    The inspected website contacted some well known actors in the ad-tech industry. Not all of these loaded trackers, so they may be different from those listed in the tests section above. For more information on each company, what it does, and which of its domains Blacklight found during the inspection, click the arrow. Reading this can give you a better idea of how the ad-tech industry works.

    Alphabet

    Blacklight detected this website sending user data to Alphabet, the technology conglomerate that encompasses Google and associated companies like Nest. The Silicon Valley giant collects data from twice the number of websites as its closest competitor, Facebook. An Alphabet spokesperson told The Markup that internet users can go here if they want to opt out of the company showing them targeted ads based on their browsing history.

    The site sent information to the following domains doubleclick.net, googleoptimize.com.
    Company description accurate on Sept. 3, 2020
    Read Google's Privacy Policy

    TowerData

    Blacklight detected the inspected website sending user data to Tower Data, an ad tech company that creates profiles of web users anchored to their email address, according to its website. It also sells data about voters to political campaigns. Representatives from Tower Data did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

    The site sent information to the following domain rlcdn.com.
    Company description accurate on Sept. 3, 2020
    Read TowerData's Privacy Policy



    Blacklight results should not be taken as the final word on potential privacy violations by a given website. Rather, they should be treated as an initial automated inspection that requires further investigation before a definitive claim can be made.

    Check your often visited sites and discover what they are up to.

    The key is deleting any trackers found on a very regular basis to circumvent/obfuscate/leave incomplete any data profile these data farmers are trying to gather on you.

    There is software available to do this. Do a search for "tracker delete" and you will get an idea.

    https://www.wikihow.com/Delete-Tracking-Cookies

    They sell that information to whomever wants it!

    Oh, and block Google Analytics wherever you can....

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    Mexico Avalon Member Mercedes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blacklight. (Online security asset)

    Thank you so much for this I've never done it, I always had in the back of my mind but "my ADD" never let me do it.

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    cursichella1 (8th March 2022), Ewan (5th March 2022), Jambo (5th March 2022)

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    Avalon Member palehorse's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blacklight. (Online security asset)

    Thanks Ewan, I didn't know about blacklight.

    I use very often IceCat Browser and Tor browser, pretty decent in terms of blocking trackers and proprietary java scripts. The only problem, you won't be able to browser most of the modern websites we have today, but that is expected, security always come with a price.
    --
    A chaos to the sense, a Kosmos to the reason.

  6. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to palehorse For This Post:

    cursichella1 (8th March 2022), Ewan (6th March 2022)

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