UK plan to scrap cookie consent boxes will make it ‘easier to spy’ on web users
Privacy campaign group warns against government’s proposals to move to an ‘opt-out’ model
February 2020
Councils let firms track visits to webpages on benefits and disability
Investigation finds 400-plus councils let at least one third party track use of their sites
September 2017
Shortcuts
Apple cuts cookies – but there is more to come in the online advertising arms race
Apple’s latest software update has enraged companies who have been using cookies to track users across the web
June 2016
I’m being chased around the internet by a shed
Stuart Heritage
I’m more than happy to be advertised to – but products pursuing you from site to site can feel like a nagging puppy tugging on your trouser leg
March 2015
Secure and protect
Why the cookies law wasn't fully baked – and how to avoid being tracked online
21 tips, tricks and shortcuts to help you stay anonymous online
October 2014
The networker
When the cookies crumbled, so did your web anonymity
John Naughton
A new generation of invisible tracker has replaced the traditional internet cookie – and it knows everything about you, writes John Naughton
November 2013
Google pays US states $17m to settle Apple web browser tracking complaint
Payment equal to one day's revenue for hacking Safari browser cookie settings going to 37 US states and District of Columbia in PR blow to search company. By Charles Arthur and agencies
October 2013
Show and tell
Facebook or Google: which website rules the world?
Oxford University researchers have visualised each country's most viewed website in the form of a colonial map
August 2013
City of London Corporation wants 'spy bins' ditched
Bins with 'cookie' technology can track smartphone users as they walk through London's Square Mile
July 2013
Last.fm founders launch web recommendation tool Lumi
Martin Stiksel and Felix Miller swore they wouldn't do another startup – until they created a service based on browsing history. By Jemima Kiss
May 2013
Technology blog
Internet users' privacy concerns may mean cookies start to crumble
John Barnes
John Barnes: Firefox is about to follow Safari's lead by disabling third-party cookies, but the web simply would not work without them
March 2013
Media blog
Why media owners are losing out on potential digital ad revenues
John Barnes
Although digital media revenues continue to grow, publishers risk losing control of selling process to agencies and advertisers. By John Barnes
January 2013
Your body isn't a temple, it's a data factory emitting digital exhaust
Arwa Mahdawi
Arwa Mahdawi: France's plan for a data tax shows how governments now want to cash in on the commercial plundering of our online information
August 2012
Wrapped in red tape: cookies law for charities
Technology blog
Dissent in the ranks: why one FTC commissioner didn't like Google's fine
Charles Arthur
June 2012
You told us
Can online consumers have their cookies and eat them?
James Ball
James Ball: You told us: Websites that track their users now have to allow people to opt out. But someone must pay if the advertising model collapses
May 2012
Cookies law changed at 11th hour to introduce 'implied consent'
Myspace settles with FTC over privacy – will Google be next?
April 2012
Battle for the internet
AddThis (Clearspring): What is it and what does it do?
AddThis appeared as the seventh-biggest name in our Tracking the Trackers data. Here we find out as much as we can about what it does.
