You're being tracked online — 9 ways to stop surveillance

The moment we connect to the web, we risk being tracked. Data has become a valuable currency: every site you visit, purchase you consider and comment you make can be used to build a profile for targeted ads or shared with third parties, and in some places that trail can expose you to government surveillance.

Start with your browser and extensions. Privacy-focused browsers can block ads, fingerprinting and trackers by default; Tor offers strong anonymization while Brave and DuckDuckGo are more user-friendly. Add tracker-blocking extensions such as Ghostery or Privacy Badger, and consider a VPN to encrypt traffic, mask your IP and use features like private DNS or built-in ad and tracker blocking.

Mind cookies, ads and accounts. Allow only necessary cookies when possible and turn off personalized ads in account settings. Use burner or masked email addresses for one-off signups, review app permissions on mobile devices and delete unused apps.

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