Ghostery
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| Developer(s) | David Cancel, Felix Shnir, Alexei Miagkov, José María Signanini |
|---|---|
| Stable release |
5.4.10 (Opera) February 19, 2016 6.0.3 (Mozilla Firefox) March 10, 2016 5.4.10 (Google Chrome) December 29, 2015 5.4.9 (Apple Safari) December 30, 2015 0.10.1 (Opera Next) July 20, 2015 5.4.9 (Internet Explorer) December 30, 2015 1.4.6 (iOS) February 24, 2015 1.2.1 (Android) April 17, 2015 / December 30, 2015
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| Development status | Active |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type |
Internet Explorer add-on/Internet Explorer extension, Opera extension, Firefox extension, Chrome extension, iPhone app (browser), Safari extension |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
Ghostery is a privacy and security-related browser extension and mobile application owned by Ghostery, Inc. (formerly Evidon) since 2010. It is distributed as proprietary freeware. The code was originally developed by David Cancel and associates. In February 2017 Ghostery was aquired by Cliqz, a German company owned by Hubert Burda Media and Mozilla that builds browser technologies which emphasize privacy.
Ghostery enables its users to easily detect and control JavaScript "tags" and "trackers". JavaScript bugs and beacons are embedded in many web pages, largely invisible to the user, allowing collection of the user's browsing habits via HTTP cookies, as well as participating in more sophisticated forms of tracking such as canvas fingerprinting.
As of 2017, Ghostery is available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Apple Safari, iOS, Android and Firefox Mobile.
Additionally, Ghostery's privacy team creates profiles of page elements and companies for educational purposes.
Ghostery blocks HTTP requests and redirects according to their source address in several ways: 1) Blocking third-party tracking scripts that are used by websites to collect data on user behavior for advertising, marketing, site optimization and security purposes. These scripts, also known as "tags" or "trackers", are the underlying technology that places tracking cookies on consumers browsers; 2) Continuously curating a "script library" that identifies when new tracking scripts are encountered on the Internet and automatically blocking them and 3) Creating "Whitelists" of websites where third-party script blocking is disabled and other advanced functionality for users to configure and personalize their experience. When a tracker is blocked, any cookie that the tracker has placed is not accessible to anyone but the user and thus cannot be read when called upon.
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