![]() Ghostery has been around since 2009 and has earned a reputation as a trusted and reliable privacy-focused company. Ghostery aims to minimize users' digital footprint through blocking trackers, replacing identifiers, and providing knowledge so users can take control of their experience online. We believe that excessive data collection without user consent should not exist. Through WhoTracks.Me, Ghostery has built the world's largest database of trackers operating on websites. Our browser extension detects when websites gather users’ information and allows users to block or limit trackers. Our mission is to improve web privacy by blocking and exposing the companies that track users’ data without consent. Ghostery is a company that empowers users to take control of their digital privacy. Let’s look at one of the best ad blocking extensions for Chrome: Ghostery Ad Blocker. That’s why ad blocking extensions are essential tools for anyone who values a better online experience. They can slow down your browsing, distract you from the content you want to see, and even compromise your privacy and security. If you are like most people, you probably find ads annoying and intrusive. Ghostery, at least, is trying to do so in a way that doesn't make the problem even worse.The Best Chrome Extension that Blocks Ads For now though, invasive ads remain a part of the web, and even the people who block them need to make a living. Many digital publications have already spent years working on new revenue models. ![]() The ad-based system that supports the digital economy is broken, and often sacrifices user privacy. “Any long-term solution needs to include content creators and publishers.” “We recognize that the digital economy needs an engine of monetization,” says Tillman. It’s a tension that Ghostery is aware of, even if its new monetization efforts don't address it directly. “The problem I think with what Google is doing with their so-called ad blockers, is that it’s really designed to enforce and support their current business model,” says Tillman.īut ad blocking doesn’t merely threaten Google’s business, it also negatively impacts that of publishers and independent content creators. ![]() Firefox also blocked tracking in private browsing mode in 2015, and Apple brought tracker-blocking to Safari last year. The tech giant, which makes most of its money from advertising, ultimately hopes the change will help stop people from downloading tools like Ghostery that block ads entirely. Google, for example, introduced a feature for Chrome last month that will block ads on sites that engage in especially annoying behavior, like automatically playing sound. Ghostery needs to provide as much utility as it can to users, especially in a market where tech's biggest players have rolled out their own built-in ad-blocking tools. In other words, Ghostery now attempts stop trackers it hasn't seen before, ostensibly giving it a leg up on the competition. ![]() That's a departure from the standard practice of comparing scripts that appear on a website to a predetermined list of unwelcome trackers. In December, the company announced it was going to begin using artificial intelligence to automatically detect new tracking scripts. “It was never a really great fit for Ghostery the consumer product,” says Jeremy Tillman, Ghostery’s director of product management.ĭeciding to go open source, along with the new revenue streams, represent the second time in the last couple of months that Ghostery has tried to differentiate itself from other ad-tracking tools. And on its face, it just looked like Ghostery was selling user data-precisely what you don’t want from a privacy tool designed to block ads and trackers. Many of Ghostery’s users struggled to understand the company’s old, complicated business model. Ghostery then sold that data to companies like ecommerce websites, which used it to better understand why, say, their website wasn’t loading very quickly. Ghostery made money when users opted-in to share data about what kinds of ad trackers they encountered across on the web. For Ghostery though, the company that makes Edward Snowden’s recommended ad blocker, publishing all its code on GitHub Thursday also means clearing up some confusion about its past.īefore Ghostery was acquired last year by Cliqz, a privacy-focused web browser, the company’s revenue scheme invited some skepticism. It signals that you not only have nothing to hide, but also welcome the rest of the world to help make your project better. In privacy-focused, anti-establishment corners of the internet, going open source can earn you a certain amount of street cred.
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