Browser Tracking

[UsandThem]

Up until recently, I was really never one to worry about being tracked online. I don't go anyplace "bad", or do anything illegal. The worst things I do are going to places like Amazon, Newegg, various online toy stores, Anandtech, Tom's, PC Gamer, etc. I honestly didn't care what Google tracked or shared with companies (I mainly use the Chrome browser), with my data synced in between my smart phone, laptop, and desktop.

However, recently Google has really gotten political on it's landing page, and I am one who tries to avoid political anything (not just one side, but all political stuff). So I figured maybe it's time I tried using another search engine, and see how well it works. So I decided to give DuckDuckGo a try. I've used it about a week now, and even I am surprised on the results. After Google, OneSignal and Purch are the biggest offenders, and which surprises me because I figured places like Amazon and Facebook would be higher up the list.

I have to look into OneSignal more, as by default Chrome deletes them when I close my browser, but I'm not sure what sites use them. Outside of my browser set to block 3rd party cookies, I use an ad blocker (uBlock Origin).

 

[Shmee]

Yikes. A good adblocker is definitely good, and I would recommend switching to firefox as well, like I did recently. They are pretty big on privacy.

 

[mindless1]

Onesignal loads from this forum via purch, specifically:

assets.purch.com/creative-templates/latest/js/membership/OneSignal/LoadOneSignal.js

How and where you block things depends on what level you want or need to use, for example at the browser or other options on the client device like an OS domain block or redirect (for example Windows' Hosts file), or a firewall, or a network firewall.