The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has announced that in its latest update of Privacy Badger, it has included a feature that stops Google’s link tracking dead in its tracks. The extension was already updated earlier this year to stop Facebook from tracking links but it believes Google’s use of the practice is even more expansive.
Writing in a blog posts, the EFF said:
“Link tracking allows a company to follow you whenever you click on a link to leave its website. Earlier this year, EFF rolled out a Privacy Badger update targeting Facebook’s use of this practice. As it turns out, Google performs the same style of tracking, both in web search and, more concerning, in spaces for private conversation like Hangouts and comments on Google Docs. From now on, Privacy Badger will protect you from Google’s use of link tracking in all of these domains.”
By using this add-on, you won’t be protected against link tracking on all of Google’s services at the moment although that may arrive down the line, however, it does stop the practice while you use Google search, Hangouts (on the Hangouts site and within Gmail), or Google Docs. The EFF said tracking users in Hangouts and Docs was more troubling than in search because users expect them to be more private than a web search.
If you have Privacy Badger installed you don’t need to do anything to get the new update, just wait until your browser decides to check for add-on updates. If you don’t have the add-on but want it, head over to the Privacy Badger website. Lastly, if you’re a programmer and want to help contribute towards the Privacy Badger check out the project on Github.
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