WEBVTT

NOTE
Subtitles for the Ad trackers and surveillance walkthrough. They match the captions drawn on the video,
and there is no spoken narration. The music is an original score. Cue times follow
the film timeline in seconds.

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Who is watching what you read, search and tap?

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The promise: plain facts, and steps you can take today.

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Our job: see the trackers, understand the harms, and choose tools and habits that fit you.

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Tracking starts by identifying you: a cookie, a device detail, or an advertising ID.

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Pages and apps then collect what you view, tap, and where you are.

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Ad companies and data brokers combine the pieces into a profile.

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Then ads, prices and offers are chosen for that profile.

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Many free services are paid for by advertising that runs on data about you.

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So what is wrong with it? First, privacy and security.

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Detailed profiles are built without a clear choice, and ads can carry scams and malware.

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Second, manipulation and little control: consent pop-ups and hidden settings make real choice hard.

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Third, young people, and an everyday cost in slower pages and more battery and data use.

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Not every ad or use of data is harmful. The problem is the scale, the secrecy, and the lack of choice.

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In the lab, watch the web first: which requests go to outside companies, and what each one learns about you.

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See what a blocker stops, what it misses, and what can break when you block more.

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On your phone, look at tracker code in apps, the permissions they ask for, and the advertising ID.

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Predict: when you open a news article, how many of its requests go to companies other than the site itself?

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This is the tracker lab, with a news page that was made up for it.

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The page makes 28 requests, and 21 of them go to outside companies.

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10 of those are tracking or advertising companies, and 9 kinds of data are shared.

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The browser’s own protection blocks 9. A list-based blocker blocks 16, and a learning blocker blocks 14.

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So blockers differ, and none of them catches everything.

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So how many requests went to other companies? On the example page, 21 of 28.

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Opening one article can involve many companies. That is why it helps to see what loads.

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Start in the browser. A list-based blocker, such as uBlock Origin, uses filter lists to block ads and trackers.

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A behavior-learning blocker, such as Privacy Badger from the EFF, learns which companies track you across sites.

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Both are free and open source, and both have limits: pages can break, and some trackers slip through.

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These are examples, not endorsements. Install only from the official source, and check who maintains the tool.

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Search is the next place to look. A profile-based search keeps your words with your history.

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A search without a profile sends your query on to other engines, so they see the service, not you.

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Cookies and your account have little effect, and results are less personalized.

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PrivacySafe Search, run by the Foundation, is built on SearXNG. You still trust the operator, so read any privacy policy, including ours.

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On phones, trackers hide in apps. Exodus Privacy for Android lists the tracker code and permissions in each app.

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Zero trackers is green, one to four is yellow, and five or more is red.

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But code found is not proof it is active, and permissions are requests that are not always granted.

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What you can do: delete the advertising ID, review permissions, and remove apps you do not use.

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Here is your take-back plan. Eight steps.

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See what loads on the pages you visit, and choose a blocker for your browser from the official source.

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Check its permissions and who maintains it, then turn on tracking protection and Global Privacy Control.

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Try a search engine that does not build a profile, and check your phone apps and advertising ID.

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Remove apps and sign-ins you do not use, and review again in three months.

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Two questions for the room.

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Whose job is it to protect your privacy: you, companies or lawmakers? What could your school or workplace do?

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Blocking ads can cut income for sites you value. How do you weigh that, and what else could you do to support them?

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That is the lesson: see the trackers, understand the harms, and choose what fits you.

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Plain facts, and steps you can take today.

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Start with one step this week.