5 ms·

How does this differ from Disconnect or Ghostery?

yegg 9y ago
We're trying to put all the privacy essentials we can make seamless -- tracker blocking, upgraded encryption, private search and more to come -- all in one package, across all major browsers and platforms. In this respect, on any major mobile device or desktop browser, you should be able to look up DuckDuckGo and with one download get seamless privacy protection as you search and browse the web. With regards to tracker blocking in particular, there are more nuanced UX differences. In the UI we're trying to move away from 'x trackers blocked' and instead group trackers from networks together, trying to identify the umbrella company and purposes. Second, we're grading each site based on its privacy measures (including privacy policies with help from TOSDR), and telling you at a glance how protected you are on an A-F scale, based on what we could do (e.g. block trackers and upgrade encryption).
piyush_soni 9y ago
I came to ask the same question. Have been using 'Blur' [0] extension for the same (After hearing Ghostery is actually by an advertizing company). [0] : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/donottrackplus/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/donottrackplu...
- Arnt 9y ago
  It isn't really. Ghostery makes/made its money selling things like a report on what advertising ends up being on your site, which you as site owner might quite reasonably want to know. (Advertising space is sold and resold at dizzying speed.) IIRC Ghostery recently sold itself to Cliqz, which in turn is owned by Burda, a publishing conglomerate. Mozilla owns a bit too.
  - piyush_soni 9y ago
    Yes, looks like they are now owned by some other company. Previously, one of many references [1] said this, which really smells fishy to me(Now not sure if the article itself is wrong): "Ghostery is owned by Evidon, a company that collects and provides data to advertising companies. It has a feature called GhostRank that you can check to "support" them. The problem is, Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information on you—but Ghostrank will take note the ads you encounter and which ones you block, and sends that information back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked. The data is anonymous, and Ghostery still does everything it promises to do to protect your privacy." [1] : https://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actually-sells-data-to-a-514417864 https://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actual...
    - fencepost 9y ago
      Seems logical - if you're an advertising company or an organized group of advertising companies and you know that people are going to be doing ad-blocking or at least tracker-blocking, if you can provide a tool that's 90% of the way there which also gets you metrics, etc. then at least you get that little bit of data and the existence of a "good enough" option may also delay stronger measures implemented by someone else.
      - Arnt 9y ago
        That assumes that ghostery users block some ads, not all. Try this alternative: The reports sold by ghostery tell example.com the link targets and reseller chains for each ad on its site, so it can keep away the ads for herbal viagra or fake gucci clothes. (Ad space is often sold through resellers, I've seen five-reseller chains myself and have heard stories about longer ones.)
alimbada 9y ago
Seems to me like it's Disconnect and HTTPS Everywhere rolled into one with a UX that's targeted towards less techy folks.

yegg 9y ago

We're trying to put all the privacy essentials we can make seamless -- tracker blocking, upgraded encryption, private search and more to come -- all in one package, across all major browsers and platforms. In this respect, on any major mobile device or desktop browser, you should be able to look up DuckDuckGo and with one download get seamless privacy protection as you search and browse the web. With regards to tracker blocking in particular, there are more nuanced UX differences. In the UI we're trying to move away from 'x trackers blocked' and instead group trackers from networks together, trying to identify the umbrella company and purposes. Second, we're grading each site based on its privacy measures (including privacy policies with help from TOSDR), and telling you at a glance how protected you are on an A-F scale, based on what we could do (e.g. block trackers and upgrade encryption).

piyush_soni 9y ago

I came to ask the same question. Have been using 'Blur' [0] extension for the same (After hearing Ghostery is actually by an advertizing company). [0] : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/donottrackplus/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/donottrackplu...

Arnt 9y ago
It isn't really. Ghostery makes/made its money selling things like a report on what advertising ends up being on your site, which you as site owner might quite reasonably want to know. (Advertising space is sold and resold at dizzying speed.) IIRC Ghostery recently sold itself to Cliqz, which in turn is owned by Burda, a publishing conglomerate. Mozilla owns a bit too.
- piyush_soni 9y ago
  Yes, looks like they are now owned by some other company. Previously, one of many references [1] said this, which really smells fishy to me(Now not sure if the article itself is wrong): "Ghostery is owned by Evidon, a company that collects and provides data to advertising companies. It has a feature called GhostRank that you can check to "support" them. The problem is, Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information on you—but Ghostrank will take note the ads you encounter and which ones you block, and sends that information back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked. The data is anonymous, and Ghostery still does everything it promises to do to protect your privacy." [1] : https://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actually-sells-data-to-a-514417864 https://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actual...
  - fencepost 9y ago
    Seems logical - if you're an advertising company or an organized group of advertising companies and you know that people are going to be doing ad-blocking or at least tracker-blocking, if you can provide a tool that's 90% of the way there which also gets you metrics, etc. then at least you get that little bit of data and the existence of a "good enough" option may also delay stronger measures implemented by someone else.
    - Arnt 9y ago
      That assumes that ghostery users block some ads, not all. Try this alternative: The reports sold by ghostery tell example.com the link targets and reseller chains for each ad on its site, so it can keep away the ads for herbal viagra or fake gucci clothes. (Ad space is often sold through resellers, I've seen five-reseller chains myself and have heard stories about longer ones.)

alimbada 9y ago

Seems to me like it's Disconnect and HTTPS Everywhere rolled into one with a UX that's targeted towards less techy folks.