Ever wonder who is tracking you when you are online? A new add-on for the Firefox browser developed by Mozilla, with the help of students at Emily Carr University, allows Firefox users to track their trackers.
The new add-on is called Lightbeam. It provides a visualization of websites that track you, giving you a map that allows you to see your own cookie trail.
Many websites use cookies to track users so they can tailor and push adds, which is why when you visit a site that may be based in another country you may find an add with local content. The Lightbeam app visualizes which websites start tracking you after you have visited them.
"What leaps out at you is that there is a huge amount of activity in the background of the network that you've never seen before," said Kate Armstrong, director of Emily Carr's social and interactive media centre.
A small team of Emily Carr students – under the guidance of associate professor Amber Frid-Jimenez – worked with developers with Mozilla's Vancouver development centre to help develop the visualizations.
