Library Guides: Digital Privacy Checkup: Your Digital Footprint

You Are Being Tracked!

There's no way to get around it. Unless you've taken specific steps to secure yourself, you are being tracked online. By whom? By the owners of the websites you're using at any given moment, but also by a large array of advertisers, social media companies, government entities, and others. These trackers and ads also slow down page loading times and may affect battery life on your device.

The tools on this page will help you learn more about the information being gathered on you, and help you to block trackers you don't want tracking you.

Not all trackers and ads are negative, though. Websites need to be able to track some aspects of user experience in order to run their sites properly and generate revenue to keep the lights on. Keep this in mind when choosing and implementing tools to block trackers and ads.

[Adapted from UW Bothell's Online Privacy and Security Toolkit. Licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 License.]

Your Digital Persona

What contact information is available for you?

Doxxing Yourself on the Internet
A tip sheet developed by the New York Times information security team to help you see what others can find about you. Includes tips for Google searching and links to some people finder sites that regularly appear in search results.
What Does Facebook Know About You?
What Does Google Know About You?

What's your overall profile?

Apply Magic Sauce
Discover what your digital footprints reveal about your psychological profile.
Predictive World
Predictions about you generated by an algorithm developed by the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre.

Make your Browsing more Secure

HTTPS Everywhere
A Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites.

Did You Know?

When you post pictures on the Internet, they might include location information?

I Know Where Your Cat Lives
Maps images tagged with "cat," based on the image location information.

Your browser's unique footprint helps companies identify you as you travel the Internet?

Panopticlick
Test how well your current browser protects against non-consensual web tracking. Check your browser's footprint to see how unique it is.

Your browser can track your every move?

The Surveillance Game
Shows in real time the browser events used to monitor your online behavior.

Alternate Search Engine

DuckDuckGo
A search engine that doesn't collect, store, or share any of your personal information.

Alternate Browser

Tor Browser
Anonymizes your web traffic using the Tor network, making it easy to protect your identity online. Caveats: Browsing the web over Tor is slower than on the regular Internet, and some major web services block Tor users.

Have You Had a Data Breach?

Have I Been Pwned?
Check if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach, and which ones.

How to Track the Trackers

NOTE: These apps might interfere with library database sites, and you might have to disable the app to use a database effectively.

Privacy Badger
From Electronic Frontier Foundation, a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browsers that blocks ads and trackers.
DuckDuckGo Privacy App
Shows you a Privacy Grade rating when you visit a website (A-F). The Privacy Grade is scored automatically based on the prevalence of hidden tracker networks, encryption availability, and website privacy practices.

Learn More

New York Times "Privacy Project" Series
Surveillance Self-Defense
Playlist to help you discover how to assess your personal risk, protect your communications and information, and start thinking about incorporating privacy-enhancing tools into your daily routine.
The House That Spied on Me
Told from two points of view: one author describes their experience of living with "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices, and the other describes what the IoT devices reveal.