The new tool aims to increase the transparency of online tracking and help people better protect their privacy online.
WebXray — is a search engine that helps you see how websites track you. A typical user can enter a text string, such as «cancer» or «pregnancy», and then see which websites are tracking that particular search, with which cookies, and what they are for.
Cookies are small pieces of data that websites store on your device when you visit them. They help websites remember your settings, preferences, and actions. For example, cookies can help you stay logged in to a website or see relevant ads. However, cookies can also be used to track your online activity, which raises privacy concerns.
WebXray was created by Tim Libert, a former Google engineer who is seriously concerned about online privacy. He came up with the idea of creating such a tool during his graduate studies when he was researching cookies and advertising technologies.
«Perhaps the hardest thing to explain is how big it is — the amount of data, the amount of surveillance, the details of billions of people’s lives passing through a maze of remote servers. It’s all very much like science fiction, and not in a good way!”» — Liebert said in his commentary.
WebXray aims to make it easier to identify companies that engage in surveillance so that prosecutors and other stakeholders can better navigate the situation. Liebert believes that there are already laws in place to protect online privacy, but regulators do not have sufficient resources to enforce them effectively.
«I think that business practices that are categorically rejected by the vast majority of Internet users cannot last forever,» says Liebert.
He hopes that WebXray will accelerate the process of change in the industry and promote greater transparency around online tracking.
WebXray’s business model provides free access to 25 daily searches and basic cookie analysis. Paid users receive more detailed analysis of privacy violations, which can be useful for law firms or technology companies seeking to comply with the law.
Recently, we wrote about a San Francisco resident who sued Microsoft and two major sex toy retailers in the United States, accusing their in illegal tracking users on websites without their consent.
Source: Gizmodo
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