Google's Privacy Sandbox Accused of User Tracking by Austrian Non-Profit

Google's plans to deprecate third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser with Privacy Sandbox has run into fresh trouble after Austrian privacy non-profit noyb none of your business said the feature can still be used to track users. "While the so-called 'Privacy Sandbox' is advertised a...

Chrome starts the countdown to the end of tracking cookies

Google has announced that it will start rolling its Chrome web browsers new Tracking Protection feature from January of 2024. Tracking Protection is part of Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative to phase out third-party cookies. The Tracking Protection feature aims to disable third-party cookies...

Meta sued over forcing users to pay to stop tracking

Meta is required to get users’ consent in Europe in order to show them targeted ads. For this reason, Meta has to provide European users with a way to opt out of behavioral advertising or face fines totalling $100,000 a day. Behavioral advertising are ads tailored to someone’s browsing habits and...

What Gen Z really cares about when it comes to privacy

It would be easy to think that Gen Z doesn’t care about privacy. They worry less about ad tracking, do little to stem the flow of their private information online, and, as Malwarebytes recently uncovered, monitor one another’s lives far more than other generations. But it isn’t that Gen Z,...

Chrome's "Enhanced Ad Privacy": What you need to know

Users of Google's Chrome web browser may wish to dig into their privacy settings as a new feature regarding advertising privacy slowly rolls out to the masses. Googles "Enhanced Ad Privacy" feature may soon appear in your browser, tied to choices regarding a new Chrome feature named Topics. This ...

25 most popular websites vs Malwarebytes Browser Guard

Do you know how many see-everything-you're-doing-on-the-web trackers get loaded into your browser when you watch a YouTube video? Would you care to guess? It's about sixty. Sixty. Six zero. Sixty trackers when you load one video. I know this because I decided to take Browser Guard, the...

Firefox stops advertisers tracking you as you browse, calls itself the most “private and secure major browser”

Cookies are in the news as Mozilla rolls out significant privacy changes for Firefox. The idea is to dramatically lessen the risk of privacy-invading tracking across websites without your knowledge. Tracking cookies have been a hot topic in recent months, as advertisers try switching to other...

All the Ways Spotify Tracks You—and How to Stop It

Whether you're listening to workout music or a "cooking dinner" playlist, the app can show you ads based on your mood and what you're doing right now...

Is it game over for VR advergaming?

We’ve been warning about advergaming—the combination of virtual reality VR and ads—for years on the Labs Blog. I’ve given a few talks on the subject too, and how ad networks will slowly work their way into enclosed spaces formerly reserved for your head. They still might, but thanks to a recent...

Google to Let Android Users Opt-Out to Stop Ads From Tracking Them

Google is tightening its privacy practices that could make it harder for apps on Android phones and tablets to track users who have opted out of receiving personalized interest-based ads. The change will go into effect sometime in late 2021. The development, which mirrors Apple's move to enable...

Don’t Buy Into Facebook’s Ad-Tracking Pressure on iOS 14.5

The company tells Apple users that tracking helps keep those platforms “free of charge,” but opting out now doesn't mean paying up later...

The New iOS Update Lets You Stop Ads From Tracking You

Facebook and other advertisers fought the move, but App Tracking Transparency is finally here...

Google FLoC puts ad trackers on a cookie-free diet

Cookie tracking is dying and Google needs a replacement. Its betting on FLoC, an ad tracking technology that lets it understand peoples behaviour while respecting their privacy. Google has announced that its tests show promising signs that FLoC is working. Is this a milestone on the road to more...

Lock and Code S1Ep20: Tracking the charities that track you online with Chris Boyd

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs and around the Internet. In addition, we talk to Chris Boyd, lead malware intelligence analyst for Malwarebytes, about charity organizations and online ad tracking. Though many might assume that these t...

Charities and the advertising industry: data ecosystems and privacy risks

Data makes the world go round, more often than not via advertising and its tracking mechanisms. Whether you think making money from large volumes of PII to keep the web ticking over is a good thing, or a sleazy data-grab often encouraging terrible ad practices, it’s not going to go away anytime...

Facebook Hits Back At Apple’s iOS 14 Privacy Update

Facebook is lambasting an upcoming Apple mobile operating system privacy update, which requires application to ask users for permission before collecting and sharing their data. In the iOS 14 update, Apple iPhone and iPad users have an explicit option to opt out of allowing apps to collect data...

Apple Pushes Back Against Ad Tracking in Safari and iOS 14

At WWDC, the company detailed a litany of privacy-friendly improvements to its software...

A Simple Way to Make It Harder for Mobile Ads to Track You

Beating back the scourge of online ad tracking entirely is almost impossible. But you can futz with your smartphone's "ad ID" to slow it down...

Moving From Do Not Track to Can Not Track

NEW YORK–The movement in the security and privacy communities to push the Do Not Track standard as an answer to the problem of pervasive online tracking by ad companies and other entities has resulted in the major browser vendors including DNT as an option for users, giving them a method for...

Google Releases Permanent Opt-Out Extension For Chrome

Google has delivered a new tool that enables Chrome users to permanently opt out of ad-tracking cookies in the company’s browser. The new extension gives users the ability to make their choices about not being tracked by online advertisers permanent, at least in Google Chrome. The move by Google ...