Compare Chrome extensions: Thunderbeam-Lightbeam for Chrome vs TrackingObserver

Stats Thunderbeam-Lightbeam for Chrome Thunderbeam-Lightbeam for Chrome TrackingObserver TrackingObserver
User count 10,000+ 404
Average rating 4.50 0.00
Rating count 6 0
Last updated 2021-10-05 2015-07-20
Size 1.37M 37.89K
Version 3.1.2 0.3
Short description
Thunderbeam-Lightbeam for Chrome uses interactive visualizations to show users the relationship under third parties. A browser-based web tracking detection platform.
Full summary

[We are working on the new extension to protect your privacy with GDPR: Please feel free to try our new extension: https://tiny.cc/rcm-chrome]

  • Thunderbeam starts recording connections as soon as it's installed.

  • To start visualizing your online interactions, open a new tab, navigate to a site, and then check back to the Thunderbeam tab.

  • Thunderbeam is used for our research study. If you consent, and only if you consent, your browser data will be used for research. Please note that even for those who consent, no personal data belonging to the users will be used (and data is hashed to prevent re-identification); any data collected will be used only for the purposes of non-commercial research, and all data will be deleted after the research project completes.

  • The code behind our plugin is completely open source on github for your inspection. We are happy to receive your feedback (pull requests/issues etc): https://github.com/socsys/Lightbeam_Chrome.

Acknowledgements:

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As you browse the web, your browsing behavior may be observed and aggregated by third-party websites ("trackers") that you don't visit directly. These trackers are generally embedded by host websites in the form of advertisements, social media widgets (e.g., the Facebook "Like" button), or web analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics).

TrackingObserver is a Chrome extension that acts as a platform for detecting, measuring, and blocking third-party web trackers. Unlike other tools, TrackingObserver does not use a blacklist of known tracking domains, but rather detects trackers automatically based on their in-browser behaviors (such as setting and receiving third-party cookies).

Different trackers exhibit different behaviors, which give them different capabilities. For example, some trackers can track you only when you return to the same site, while others can track you as you browse multiple different sites. TrackingObserver automatically categorizes trackers according to the taxonomy described at http://trackingobserver.cs.washington.edu/.

TrackingObserver is not just a stand-alone Chrome extension, but a platform. It exposes APIs for tracking detection, measurement, and blocking, and you can install or develop add-ons that provide visualization or other functionality. TrackingObserver prevents add-ons from needing to reinvent or reimplement its automatic tracking detection algorithm, while allowing them to innovate in other ways.

We hope that TrackingObserver will be valuable for users, developers, and web tracking researchers.