Hey, wanted to share some information that you might find as useful as I do.

When you are browsing and surfing the internet, you are being tracked by a handful of companies that monitor you through websites and cookies. They install code in your browser to do this.

They follow you around as you jump from website to website, mining as much data they can about what content you consume, what products you buy, what sites you spend most time on and a whole array of other data.

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaEc1vgcEarfefL88Ej4jiqo1C22qwunqPco2FdGGpZaH/image.png)

At this point in your internet surfing career you surely have a nice profile constructed illustrating your online habits. This is what these trackers do. They accumulate thousands of data points about you and target you with ads and other instruments. They do this behind the scenes and without your knowledge or consent. These companies then sell your data to the highest bidder...without your knowledge or consent!

These tracking services also make your browsing experience slower and cluttered. 

Its not too late to fight for your privacy and start rejecting these trackers!

I have been aware of this for several years and have used programs to block these trackers. I just found a new chrome extension (other browsers are supported also) that helps you identify these trackers and block them. Thought you needed to know too.

I use Ghostery. You can visit their website <a href="https://www.ghostery.com/">here</a>.

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmT4EhUkaGUSppM7wRezpFnpvvanb5JqSAXBtrFDNxx8XV/image.png)

According to them,

>We live in a connected world.  When you browse the internet, there are thousands of unseen tracking technologies that connect you and your browsing data to companies across the world so that they can target you with ads and communications, analyze your browsing behavior, and integrate their own third-party web technologies. These trackers slow down page load time as they transmit and download data, increase clutter on websites with ads and pop-ups, and put your information at risk as they share your browsing behavior with other companies.

>The internet sucks.  Ghostery makes it suck less.

For example when I visit www.cnn.com, I get 17 tracking services. Wow! Here is the screenshot,
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZrUK2WkAheHfgmSWHo44JP1cgAkCmio3ZLKqRkgsHQyj/image.png)

Visiting www.steemit.com, I see 4 trackers connecting,
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYcJaD71qwaacNJAM4e56pYsjZF8PxtFVhL2Gz2fcYCHy/image.png)

I'm not 100% sure as to what all these trackers actually do, but I block ALL of them anyway. I'm sure some are good and provide useful information to webmasters. I will slowly educate myself on them and possibly allow some to function.

I prefer to control my own data and privacy and not have a huge profile being built about me behind my back.

Try it for yourself. Its fun looking at websites you commonly visit and seeing how many tracking and advertising services are connected to them.

If you enjoy my content, please follow and up vote. Please leave any comments and questions below. 

Thanks for your time, appreciate your view!