5 Ways Porn Sites Track You
Web surfing activity is easy to track. Basic technology like cookie tracking has been around since the early days if the internet and that technology still works today. However, the amount and granularity of the data tracked by websites and advertisers is far more in depth, or some would say, invasive to your privacy. Porn websites are no different. Even reputable, big-name porn sites tracker users and sell anonymized data to advertisers in order to make money. It’s no secret that paid prn viewing is declining due to the availability of free pics and videos everywhere. So, the websites need to make up for lost revenue by selling ad space.
- Cookies – This one is a no brainer. When you go to your favorite porn viewing site like xHamster, you may or may not choose to create a login. The premium content is available only to logged in users who are paying a little money to see more. By creating an account, you are giving the operators of the porn site a bit of information about you, even if you use a burner email that is not tied to anything – say like your job! Note – Don’t ever use your work email for any of this stuff!
- Email list – Have you signed up for your favorite site’s email list? Email campaigns are one of the best converting forms of online marketing. Emails are easy to track and well managed campaigns supply lots of data to their senders. Metrics such as how many emails are opened and by which recipient, who clicked on what link, and what services were sold as a result of the email are all stored in tidy reports so the campaigns can be refined.
- Adware – aka third-party cookies. Don’t confuse this one with malware. Many websites, not just porn sites, show advertisements to their userbase in order to make money. Have you ever noticed that when you shop online and then visit another website, you see ads for the products you were just looking at? That’s because a file was dropped on your laptop while you were shopping. The file, called a cookie, records certain access information about your activity online. This includes what website you visited and probably what you were looking at and when. This data is then used t show you personalized ads.
- Download history – When you download pics and videos to your laptop to watch alter then this is added to your devices download history. Of course, the site you downloaded from knows that you saved a file to your device. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) knows too. ISPs can easily track what files you’ve downloaded. Now that Net Neutrality has been officially, your ISP may even choose to throttle your video viewing in an effort to prioritize traffic over their lines.
- Mobile Apps – Many porn sites also use a mobile app. Pornhub even just released their own Virtual private networking app called VPNHub. Although your new favorite mobile app makes it easy to watch porn videos at work or anywhere else on the go, it also opens up a new way to be tracked.
Certain browsers, like my favorite Mozilla Firefox, can help block third-party trackers like adware cookies. However, you must do some browser and machine cleaning to remove all traces of your porn watching. Your favorite porn site however will forever know what you bought and downloaded.
