Lightbeam

Author: Matthew Palumbo

Reaction Reflection on the Information That is Displayed by Lightbeam

I was surprised at the vast volume of third party advertiser on news sites such as: National Post and the Globe and Mail. I was surprised by the low amount of third party advertisers on Facebook and Google. I was expecting a higher amount of third party advertising on YouTube. The third party advertising on Netflix and the provincial government was higher than I anticipated. I am impressed that a program can track the third party advertisers and cookies then display a map in a user-friendly manner.

Implications on the Information That is Displayed by Lightbeam

Lightbeam records and shows tracking cookies on the websites that are visited on the user’s computer through the Firefox web browser. Lightbeam does this in real time and display’s it to the user. Lightbeam can distinguish between behavioral cookies and other tracking cookies. Lightbeam shows which advertisers or other third parties are connected to which cookies. Lightbeam has the sophistication to develop information about the user’s browsing from site to site. All data collected by Lightbeam is stored locally, and the program does not share it.

Lightbeam allows user to see behind the curtain and provide people with more information about the growing role of third parties, data drives most websites interactions, and shows how little autonomy users have over their own data and who it is shared with. Also show the extent of how rampant behavioural tracking is. When visiting websites many third parties have access to your data and do act on the data acquired. People are increasingly becoming aware of how their data is being used and want to safeguard their privacy. Websites are selling people’s data to the highest bidder. Third parties act on the data received and then target market people.