practical tips for limiting web tracking

0. Use the web

The reason that so many privacy tips are about the web is not that the web is especially bad for privacy, it’s that the web is a medium where you still have enough control to make a difference. Companies don’t try to get you to click it’s better in the app because the app is better, they want to be able to use a communications medium where tracking is easier and privacy tools are harder. Please don’t let the existence of web privacy tools and web privacy tips scare you away from the web.

Step zero is to remove the Meta apps—Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp—if you can. Meta is much safer as a web site than as an app. Researchers recently spotted Meta doing a horribly complex surveillance trick called “Localhost tracking” to bypass security protections on Android phones. Although they stopped doing this particular technique, as long as the Meta apps are on your phone it’s just a matter of time until they figure out the next one.

1. Delete browsing data

This is out of date: If you don’t want personalized ads based on past website visits, you can delete cookies within your browser and clear your search and browsing history. A lot of web tracking now uses unintended identification techniques that are harder to manage than cookies. Personally I don’t bother to manually delete tracking data. (update 31 Jul 2025) Firefox now has a feature called Total Cookie Protection that makes manually dinking with cookies mostly unnecessary.

2. Customize your privacy settings.

The FTC site linked to here is out of date (as you might expect, given the political situation). I have what should be current info for some of the browsers.

• turn off advertising features in Firefox

• Google Chrome ad features checklist

• turn off advertising measurement in Apple Safari

3. Review privacy notices and tracker settings

Reading privacy policies is a waste of time. A company’s privacy policy is just a list of whatever creepy stuff their lawyer’s other clients got caught doing. you gotta FIGHT for your RIGHT to not read privacy policies You can click the Do not sell or share my personal information link at the bottom of a page, but a lot of the time it’s not hooked up to all of the data processing the company does, or the software that handles it is broken. (The state of California is catching some of these but it’s a long process.) A time-saving approach is Global Privacy Control (see step 6). No more reliable than manually clicking do not sell but way more impact for the time spent.

4. Opt out of audience-matched advertising

This is a good one and can have real impact. (It will even make you buy better stuff and be happier.) Here’s how to fix the Google and Meta personalized ad settings.

5. Consider privacy-centric plug-ins or privacy-focused browsers using an ad blocker

This is a tricky tip to do for a public sector site. The FBI recommends an ad blocker, too, but it looks like the government can’t link to a specific tool. The problem is that the ad blocker scene is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Many of the ad blockers you will find by searching the online reviews or browser extension directories are malware, adware, or have a paid allow-listing scheme. Installing a random ad blocker would likely make you worse off, privacy-wise.

A known honest ad blocker is uBlock Origin. It will handle the ads in Google Search, which are the FBI’s concern. If you visit legit ad-supported sites, you can turn it off for just those sites while staying protected from trackers elsewhere.

6. Enable an opt-out preference signal on your browser

Another good tip, currently easier to do on some browsers than others. My Firefox instructions under step 2 already have this one.

More: Privacy tips with no brand names and no links

Related

The web is pretty good, privacy-wise. Other places, not so much. Here are some effective privacy tips that also cover tools and actions for other places.

Bonus links

Zelle needs to fix ‘significant scams and fraud,’ lawmakers say by Emma Roth. In an attempt to protect its customers, Chase began blocking Zelle payments over social media, where scams often show up, last February. (One more reason to delete those Meta apps, if you need one.)

Nearly 30 % of All Bullsh-t Online Is Health Related by John Battelle. I’ve been skeptical of the claims made by the tech and AI industry as LLMs and chatbots begin to take over nearly every aspect of the Internet as we’ve known it. My conversation with Brill and Crovitz only deepened my skepticism. (This problem is only going to get worse as legit sites do more to try to keep their content out of LLM training sets and disinfo sites do more to try to get their content in)

One of the Biggest Obstacles to Building New CA Housing Has Now Vanished by Ben Christopher. With the passage of a state budget-related housing bill, the California Environmental Quality Act will be a non-issue for a decisive swath of urban residential development in California.

Burner Phone 101 at the Brooklyn Public Library Burner phones are low-cost, prepaid devices used to preserve privacy in temporary situations. They’re not just for activists. More and more people are using them to avoid surveillance, unplug, and compartmentalize their lives.

Eroding America from within: Marketing data threatens military cohesion by By Maj. Jessica Dawson and Lt. Col. Todd Arnold. The troves of intricately detailed information collected by online and social media companies were used to target disinformation campaigns (a.k.a., story weapons), and yet, much of the broader national defense strategy fails to acknowledge this actively exploited force protection vulnerability. There are currently no provisions in law or force structure to actively assess this vulnerability, nor to defend against it.