The websites you visit track you to establish your profile. But you can prevent them from constantly tracking you using an option in your browser.
Internet privacy is a complex subject and an almost impossible goal to achieve. Protecting your privacy online is an obstacle course, as the traces left by our navigation are numerous. From our Internet service provider to the sites we visit, including all the intermediary services and applications we use on a daily basis, everyone on the Web collects data on our habits.
A large part of the Web economy is based on the collection and exploitation of this data, particularly for advertising purposes. There are ways to reduce our exposure and tracking online, but they are often complex or expensive, such as browsing using the Tor system or paying to access a VPN (Vvirtual Private Network). Without going that far, there is also a very simple option to activate on your Internet browser to limit the damage a little.
Available on the three main browsers on the market (Chrome, Firefox and Edge) as well as on most popular alternatives (Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, Safari), this function is called Do Not Track and it is often translated as Do Not Follow Me or Do Not Track Me. When activated, it sends an instruction to all the websites you visit, telling them that you do not want your browsing (the pages visited, the links you click on) to be recorded.
This function is activated very simply, by clicking on a button in the settings of your Internet browser. To activate it on Google Chromego to SettingsThen Privacy and security then in Third-party cookiesand click the switch to the right of Send a “Do Not Track” request with your Navigation traffic.
To put it in place on Mozilla Firefoxfirst open the Settingsthen click on the category Privacy and security then, in the list of options in the center of the window, go down until you find the section Website Privacy Preferences and then check the box Ask websites to “Do Not Track”.
Finally, if you use the browser Microsoft Edgestart by going to the Settingsthen click Privacy, search and services in the panel on the left, then go down to the section Confidentiality in the center of the window, and click the switch to the right of Send “Do Not Track” Requests.
Note that this function Do Not TrackDo Not Track Me or Do Not Track Me is also available on the mobile version (for Android or iPhone) of these three browsers. She is still found in the Settingsbut sometimes in a different submenu and may have a name that differs slightly from its computer equivalent.
Once this option is enabled, you will still receive and see online advertising, but it will be much less targeted and will no longer rely as much on your searches and browsing history. Keep in mind, however, that to date, there are no regulations requiring websites to comply with the request Do Not Track. Some pages will therefore continue to collect data relating to your habits and behavior, but you will have already taken a first step towards better privacy on the Internet.