Like many websites, The Mac Observer uses advertising trackers and cookies. Here is what I found using Safari 14’s tool. I don’t have anything to do with our ads, so I can’t tell you why we use what we use. But I can point them out.
6 Advertising Trackers With Safari 14
If you updated Safari to version 14 and noticed a shield icon in the tab bar, that is the new Privacy Report. It tells you which trackers were prevented from following you across the web. Right now as I visit The Mac Observer homepage, it shows six trackers that were prevented from profiling me:
- ezoic.net: A technology platform for websites that improves website ad earnings, site speed, & UX using artificial intelligence to streamline the management of ads, content, and more.
- google-analytics.com: A web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, currently as a platform inside the Google Marketing Platform brand.
- googlesyndication.com: Provides advertising or advertising-related services such as data collection, behavioral analysis or retargeting.
- googletagmanager.com: Google Tag Manager allows you to quickly and easily update measurement codes and related code fragments collectively known as tags on your website or mobile app.
- googletagservices.com: Same as the Tag Manager.
- quantserve.com: Quantcast specializes in AI-driven real-time advertising, audience insights and measurement.
Safari’s blocking tool works on Safari 14 for the Mac as well as on iOS and iPadOS 14.
I just hit the shield on this very page and got 26 blocked trackers.
The trackers are one thing, that annoying Google ad on the footer that covers content is another. I understand the need for ads to pay for a free website, but they should be polite about it.
That’s why I’ve just turned off all the Google ones with NoScript :-), Quantserve and Ezoic were already OFF.. Firefox 1, Google 0. But Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection has completely borked online payments using Verified by Visa, even when its disabled.
NoScript sounds interesting, I used to have something similar but it broke a number of OSs ago. Does it also block those incredibly annoying “We would like to send you notifications” and the nags to sign up for newsletters. Anyway, where do you get it?