Trackers may collect data that you type even before hitting submit

Topic

New Reply

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/05/17/trackers-may-collect-data-that-you-type-even-before-hitting-submit/

Many websites come with web forms, for example, to sign-in to an account, create a new account, leave a public comment or contact the website owner. What most Internet users may not know is that data that is typed on sites may be collected by third-party trackers, even before the data is sent.

Leaked data included personal information, such as the user’s email address, names, usernames, messages that were typed into forms and also passwords in 52 occasions. Most users are unaware that third-party scripts, which includes trackers, may collect these kind of information when they type on sites. Even when submitting content, most may expect it to be confidential and not leaked to third-parties. Browsers do not reveal the activity to the user; there is no indication that data is collected by third party scripts…

6 users thanked author for this post.

jburk07, SueW, BobbyB, Fred, oldfry, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

Replies

So it is some Websites that do the leaking, if I understand this correctly.
Also somewhat reassuring is this, from the article linked by Alex:

“Browsers with built-in ad-blocking functionality, such as Brave or Vivaldi, and ad-blocking extensions such as uBlock Origin, offer better protection against data leaking. Users on mobile devices may use browsers that support extensions or include ad-blocking functionality by default.

The researchers developed the browser extension LeakInspector“

Ex Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7) since mid-2020. Now: running macOS Big Sur 11.6 & sometimes, Linux (Mint)

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV and Malwarebytes for Macs.

1 user thanked author for this post.

oldfry

Reply | Quote

OscarCP wrote:

So it is some Websites that do the leaking

A research team from KU Leuven, Radboud University and University of Lausanne, analyzed the data collecting of third-party trackers on the top 100K global websites

Reply | Quote

Alex5723 wrote:

A research team from KU Leuven, Radboud University and University of Lausanne, analyzed the data collecting of third-party trackers on the top 100K global websites

These top 100.000 sites is just the beginning. And this is not leaking, but spying on the visitors.

* get out of the poisonous Metaverse *

1 user thanked author for this post.

OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Two perplexing observations:

(1) According the table in the article, the number of sites that “track” is maybe a few thousand, adding up those in each category.

(2) I am not really into beauty and fashion. Maybe I am missing out on a lot of the leaking?

That does not sound fair.

Ex Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7) since mid-2020. Now: running macOS Big Sur 11.6 & sometimes, Linux (Mint)

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV and Malwarebytes for Macs.

Reply | Quote

A good reason to avoid doing anything or conducting personal business on a cell phone, and an even better reason to use Firefox add-ons like NoScript, Ghostery and AdBlock Ultimate.

My bank wants to download 18 scripts onto my computer every time I use the site.  But in time, I have learned that only six of those scripts are necessary to use the site with full functionality.  The rest are what I call ‘snoopers.’

Love that NoScript!

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

Reply | Quote

? says: well eff test says:

“Our tests indicate that you have strong protection against Web tracking.”
have all the auto form junk turned off in ff-esr 91.9.0, and don’t put info in a shiny info box anytime, anywhere, so?…

Reply | Quote