Continue to main
  • Products
    Business icon

    Build software

    Builder StudioTM
    Create your custom app and own all the code
    Studio StoreTM
    Sell goods and services online with ready-to-go-apps
    Builder NowTM
    Turn your app idea into a working prototype
    Studio RapidTM
    Build and launch enterprise apps in weeks
    Cloud hosting icon

    Hosting

    Builder Cloud
    Save big on all the cloud services you need
    Software support icon

    Support

    Builder Care
    Keep your app fresh forever with fixes and updates
  • Solutions for
    Business icon

    Business

    Entrepreneurs
    Make your dream business app a reality
    SMBs
    Scale your sales with an app you own
    Enterprise
    Bypass your internal teams and get apps built fast
    Industries icon

    Industries

    Retail & Ecommerce >Financial Services >Healthcare >Construction >Travel & Hospitality >Education >Media & Entertainment >
    See all industries >
  • Resources
    Case studies icon
    Case studies
    Real app-building stories from our customers
    Guides icon
    Guides
    Expert advice on how to start, run and market your app
    Blog icon
    Blog
    News, industry trends and quick-fire business tips
  • About us
    Story board icon
    Our story
    Why we're here - and how we can help you
    Question mark icon
    Why Builder.ai
    Find out how we compare with all your other options
    How we use AI
    How we use AI
    Discover the tech behind our products and services
    Newsroom
    Newsroom
    Builder.ai has been making headlines…
  • Pricing
  • Sign in
  • Get started
  • Products
    Business icon

    Build software

    Builder StudioTM
    Create your custom app and own all the code
    Studio StoreTM
    Sell goods and services online with ready-to-go-apps
    Builder NowTM
    Turn your app idea into a working prototype
    Studio RapidTM
    Build and launch enterprise apps in weeks
    Cloud hosting icon

    Hosting

    Builder Cloud
    Save big on all the cloud services you need
    Software support icon

    Support

    Builder Care
    Keep your app fresh forever with fixes and updates
  • Solutions for
    Business icon

    Business

    Entrepreneurs
    Make your dream business app a reality
    SMBs
    Scale your sales with an app you own
    Enterprise
    Bypass your internal teams and get apps built fast
    Industries icon

    Industries

    Retail & Ecommerce >Financial Services >Healthcare >Construction >Travel & Hospitality >Education >Media & Entertainment >
    See all industries >
  • Resources
    Case studies icon
    Case studies
    Real app-building stories from our customers
    Guides icon
    Guides
    Expert advice on how to start, run and market your app
    Blog icon
    Blog
    News, industry trends and quick-fire business tips
  • About us
    Story board icon
    Our story
    Why we're here - and how we can help you
    Question mark icon
    Why Builder.ai
    Find out how we compare with all your other options
    How we use AI
    How we use AI
    Discover the tech behind our products and services
    Newsroom
    Newsroom
    Builder.ai has been making headlines…
  • PricingSign in
    Get started
< All posts
Marketing

Striving for transparency and protecting your privacy

Maybe the websites you see as “free” aren’t free after all, for there is a high privacy cost to be paid. Some sites’ privacy policies do not even lightly mention the tracking and invasive key logging taking place.

Team Builder
Editorial Team @ Builder.ai®
September 30, 2020
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
pexels

The digital world is the fastest way of connecting with your customers, colleagues, family and friends, but unfortunately, it isn’t always the safest one. Privacy is the right of every human being on the planet. But it is the right that is challenged most often. So, we want to share something important with you today.

We recently came to learn of this amazing new tool called Blacklight, that is a real-time website privacy inspector. This inspired us to bring you a quick download on everything you need to protect yourself and your privacy.

The tool emulates how a user might be surveilled while browsing the web. Users type a URL into Blacklight, and it visits the requested website, scans for known types of privacy violations, and returns an instant privacy analysis of the inspected site. The types of surveillance that Blacklight seeks to identify are third-party cookies, ad trackers, key logging, session recording, canvas fingerprinting, Facebook tracking, Google Analytics “Remarketing Audiences”.

The alarming state of affairs

On their website, The Markup notes that while scanning hundreds of sensitive sites using Blacklight, they found that tracking was surprisingly common. Health information websites like Everyday Health and WebMD sent user data about page visits to dozens of marketing companies. Various government websites providing information about COVID-19 sent information about the site visitors to advertising companies without users’ knowledge. Most unsettling, the Mayo Clinic used key logging to capture information about people’s current medical ailments in pages where they sign up for appointments and clinical trials. Even if people changed their minds and decided not to submit the information, the captured data was still sent to an endpoint on the Mayo Clinic’s server labeled “web forms for marketers/tracking.”

It gets worse

Maybe the websites you see as “free” aren’t free after all, for there is a high privacy cost to be paid. Some sites’ privacy policies do not even lightly mention the tracking and invasive key logging taking place.

How to protect your privacy online

  1. Choose your internet service providers (ISP) wisely. ISPs can often know your online search history and store that information for months. There are two ways to protect your privacy if you don't want your ISP monitoring your browser queries:switch to an ISP that doesn't monitor your online data or get a VPN to protect your data. A VPN (virtual private network) is a type of software that protects your internet browsing by encrypting your online data and hiding your true IP address.
  1. Browse safe. Read the terms and conditions of your browser, so you know what information they might be storing. For the most part, web cookies are harmless and only work to make your browsing experience hassle-free. However, some third-party cookies may remain active even on websites they didn't originate from. They also track your online behavior through the sites you visit and monitor what you click on. So, we recommend that you clear your cookies every once in a while.
  2. Alternately, you could always browse in the Incognito mode. This way, your browser won’t save any visited sites, cookies, or online forms. However, be warned that your activities may still be visible to the websites you visit and your ISP.
  3. Lastly, consider anonymous browsers like TOR (the onion browser) and a private search engine like DuckDuckGo to protect information about your location, online searches and preferences.

While it seems to have achieved quite the feat, the Markup doesn’t hesitate to note all the challenges Blacklight is yet to tackle, “There are limitations to our analysis. Blacklight emulates a user visiting a website, but its automated behavior is different from human behavior, and that behavior may trigger different types of surveillance. For instance, an automated request might trigger more fraud detection but fewer ads. Given the dynamic nature of web-based technology, it is also possible that some of these tests will become out-of-date over time. And new legitimate-use cases for the techniques Blacklight flags could emerge that would not be listed in the tool’s caveats. For this reason, Blacklight results should not be taken as the final word on potential privacy violations by a given website. Rather, they should be treated as an initial automated inspection that requires further investigation before a definitive claim can be made.” If only every organisation could be as transparent.

Which is why you deserve to know

Every netizen has the right to know whether their privacy is compromised in any manner or their personal data used for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.

The Builder promise

Builder.ai always has and continues to work towards offering our customers complete and uncompromised transparency. Here is our Cookie Policy page. Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. Unfortunately, in most cases, there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to this site. It is recommended that you leave all cookies on if you are not sure whether you need them or not in case they are used to provide a service that you use. However, our users can always choose to switch off cookie sharing and protect their information.

Looking to build revolutionary software but don’t know the most trustworthy choice? Try Builder.ai. Write to us at hello@builder.ai and we would be happy to answer all your questions and run you through the platform.


Found it useful? Share it on:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Team Builder
Editorial Team @ Builder.ai®
TwitterLinkedIn
Stories published by the editorial team at Builder.ai®.
View all posts from
Team Builder
Arrow right

Related articles

Marketing
3 Fundamental Best Practices for Enterprise Security
3 Fundamental Best Practices for Enterprise Security

At the beginning of March this year, hackers attempted to break into the email accounts of World Health Organisation staff members. Around the same time, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) faced a security breach.

Lakshmi Devan
June 23, 2020
Technology
3 (more) ways AI can transform software & mobile app development
3 (more) ways AI can transform software & mobile app development

Builders, we started a conversation back in the end of November...

Erica Grigg
December 9, 2019
Cloud
3 of the most important cloud computing trends of 2020
3 of the most important cloud computing trends of 2020

In the last few years, cloud computing has become a critical instrument in digital transformation and the deployment model of choice for businesses looking to revamp existing IT infrastructure.

Lakshmi Devan
May 26, 2020

Related case studies

Virgin-Unite
Virgin-Unite

We worked with Virgin Unite to raise social awareness about how flawed the death penalty is. Thanks to our help, the #DeathPenaltyFail campaign reached over 19 million people around the world.

View case study
Arrow right
Builder Cloud
Myntra
Myntra

How we saved India's largest e-commerce fashion and lifestyle store over $2m over 2 years...

View case study
Arrow right
View more

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to get monthly updates on new posts, discounted tickets for our events and possibly some candies, too.

Blog newsletter subscribe image
Builder.ai logo
Software as easy as ordering pizza
Try it for free
Right circle
Builder Studio app building illustration
Builder.ai logo
  • Facebook logoFacebook
  • Twitter logoTwitter
  • LinkedIn logoLinkedIn
  • YouTube logoYouTube
  • Instagram logoInstagram

Products

  • Builder Studio
  • Builder Care
  • Builder Cloud
  • Studio Rapid

Resources

  • App Builder
  • Guides
  • Case studies
  • DevOps

Company

  • About us
  • Careers
  • Partners

Reach us

  • Blog
  • Newsroom
  • Contact us
Builder.ai®, 6th Floor, North West House, 119 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5PU.
Copyright © 2022 Engineer.ai Corp. All rights reserved.
Terms | Privacy | CCPA | Cookie Policy | Cookie Settings | Legal and Compliance
CogX awards budge
CogX awards budge
close icon

Get a free demo