Wherever you go on the Web, you’re being invisibly tracked by companies and organizations you didn’t even know about. Your browsing history, your viewing habits, your search history are all logged, analyzed, and evaluated – even when you’re offline.
One simple tool, Disconnect, promises to restore your anonymity. As the following video shows, it’s an easy way to regain some of your lost privacy, and improve your online security. Developed by a former NSA engineer, it’s also a great tool for parents to make their childrens’ web-surfing safer.
“While a lot of controls have been put into place for apps aimed specifically at children, there is a whole swathe of apps and sites that are used by children as well as adults, which are not restricted in the same way. Disconnect Kids aims to close this loophole by letting you actively block major mobile tracking companies and the network connections they try to make to your family’s devices,” says co-founder Brian Kennish, formerly of Google.
When you install Disconnect, you get a small button in your browser that shows you what’s really going on. With a single click of a button, you can see when sites are tracking you, and you can choose to block them. You can see when your requests are being diverted to other sites you didn’t know about, and even bring up a map showing how they’re all interconnected.
Perhaps the most shocking thing to realize is that with Disconnect installed, pages load on average 27% faster. In other words, 27% of what you’re downloading is irrelevant, extra rubbish you may not even be seeing on-screen. That’s wasting your valuable time, and clogging up the Internet. Getting rid of all the tracking would reduce pressure on the ISPs, and create a better online experience for all of it.
Disconnect has been widely praised for its reliability and simplicity. It’s priced at Whatever-You-Want – in other words, if you like it, give them some money. How much is up to you. Or just grab it free, and help clear up the Net.
Install it, and browse in peace.
