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Web tracking involves collecting and sharing information related to the activities of Internet users.
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Table of Contents • Web Tracking • Websites • Web Hosting • First-party vs. Third-party Tracking • Uses of Web Tracking • Methods of Web Tracking • IP Address Tracking • HTTP Cookies • Web Beacons • Browser Fingerprinting • Canvas Fingerprinting
Web Tracking • Web tracking refers to the practice of websites’ operators that enables the collection, storage and sharing of information with regard to the activities of visitors on the World Wide Web. It is often part of visitor management. Analysis of the websites’ visitors’ behaviour aids in understanding their preferences, which is important for certain parties, such as advertisers. • Many companies take care of data collection on their own. For others, there are data brokers which are businesses that are dedicated to compiling and selling data for the use of other companies.
Websites • A website consists of a collection of related web pages along with such content that usually focusses on a specific purpose or topic. It is located under a single domain name and is identifiable by a common domain name. The World Wide Web (www) has all the websites which are publicly accessible over the Internet. • Each and every website is hosted on a web server, which is made available by a certain web hosting company through the service of web hosting.
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Web Hosting • Web hosting is the service provided by web hosting companies which enables access to websites. The data (files) of websites are stored on the servers provided by web hosting companies. These servers deliver the stored data over the Internet to render websites accessible. All the necessary technology and services for this purpose are provided by the web hosting companies. • Web hosting can be of various types, such as shared, dedicated, cloud, WordPress, reseller, VPS etc. • The most efficient and popular web hosting service providers are usually known by terms such as the “Best Website Hosting Company”, the “Best Windows Hosting Company”, the “Best Cloud Hosting Company” etc.
First-party vs. Third-party Tracking • First-party Tracking- When tracking is carried out by the website that one is visiting, then it is referred to as first-party tracking. This type of tracking monitors the behaviour of the visitors of a website to understand their preferences with regard to the type of content, language settings and other shared information. • Third-party Tracking- When tracking is also done by parties other than the website that one is visiting, then it is known as third-party tracking. In such a case, when one visits a site, the site also loads third-party cookies which track one’s behaviour on that site along with that on other sites that one might visit in the future. This type of tracking is usually used to aid advertisers customize their advertisements based on one’s preferences.
Uses of Web Tracking The main uses of Web tracking include the following- • For the purpose of aiding advertising activities- Information about users is actively collected by advertising companies for the purpose of making profiles, which are used for individualizing advertisements. The websites that are visited, interactions on social networks, videos that have been watched, online transactions etc. are some of the user activities regarding which information is collected. • For Web analytics- Web tracking provides insights on the ways a website is being used and the duration a user spends on a certain web page. Hence, it becomes easier to understand that who might be the most interested in a particular website’s content. • To aid law enforcement agencies- Law enforcement agencies can benefit from Web tracking by using it for the purpose of spying and solving crimes. • For usability tests- A usability test is a test that is carried out to understand the ease of using a design. In it, the users are observed when they are performing tasks. Such tests help to identify the problems related to the usability with regard to a website’s design, in order to fix these problems for easier navigation.
Methods of Web Tracking The main methods that are used for Web tracking are mentioned below, in no particular order. • IP address tracking • HTTP cookies • Web beacons • Browser fingerprinting • Canvas fingerprinting • Each of these will be explained individually in the next few slides.
IP Address Tracking • A unique IP address is assigned to every device that is connected to the Internet. This enables the communication among the devices. When relevant software is present on the host website, the IP addresses of that site’s visitors can be logged. This information can be used to know each visitor’s location. • IP address tracking can function only if one’s IP address is visible. This method for tracking will not be effective when the IP address of a visitor is hidden with the aid of a proxy or a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
HTTP Cookies Cookies are usually the most prevalent method used for browser tracking. HHTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) cookies contain code and information that are embedded into the device of a user by the website that the user is visiting. In this way such a website is enabled to retrieve the information on the cookie when the user visits the website subsequently. Cookies aid in customizing users’ browsing experience as well as for delivering targeted advertisements. • Cookies usually store the following browsing activities- • Content searched online by a user • Content as well as web pages browsed by a user • The time when a user clicked an online advertisement • The time when a user visited a site
Web Beacons • Web beacons are used by websites and emails, usually in the form of a transparent graphic image that is single-pixel. These are used to log user behaviour. These beacons are invisible but they monitor a user’s online activities and track users for the purpose of advertising and website analytics. Businesses use this information to deliver their services based on users’ preferences.
Browser Fingerprinting • Browser fingerprinting refers to a relatively new technique which enables the identification of unique visitors by a website through its web browser. When a user connects to any website, his/her browser relays such data which is used by the website to optimize the user’s experience. Such data include the device model, OS (Operating System), language preference, screen resolution, time zone, history etc. Usually the chances are very less that any two users’ browser data will be the same. Hence, such a set of parameters becomes a unique browser fingerprint. Every time the user visits the same website, it can track his/her behaviour through browser fingerprinting.
Canvas Fingerprinting • Canvas fingerprinting can take place when a website learns how a user’s browser responds to graphical instructions. When a user visits a website, which uses this type of tracking, such a website instructs the user’s browser to draw a hidden image which provides information about the user’s unique digital fingerprint. When canvas fingerprinting is combined with the information obtained through other tracking methods, the result is very accurate.
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