Essential Information on Web Tracking

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Essential Information on Web Tracking
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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

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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.

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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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1-800-123 -8156

• Whoa! Thats a big number, arent you
  proud?

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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.

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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 ones 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 ones preferences.

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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
  websites 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 websites design, in order to
  fix these problems for easier navigation.

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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.

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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 sites visitors can be
  logged. This information can be used to know each
  visitors location.
• IP address tracking can function only if ones 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).

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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

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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 users 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.

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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 users 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.

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Canvas Fingerprinting

• Canvas fingerprinting can take place when a
  website learns how a users browser responds to
  graphical instructions. When a user visits a
  website, which uses this type of tracking, such a
  website instructs the users browser to draw a
  hidden image which provides information about the
  users 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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