Firefox Lightbeam This is the web extension version of the Firefox Lightbeam add-on for visualizing HTTP requests between websites in real time. The Firefox Lightbeam extension by Mozilla is a key tool for Mozilla to educate the public about privacy. At Mozilla, we believe that everyone should be in control of their user data and privacy controls. With this in mind, we've developed Lightbeam, an add-on for Firefox that will help users visualize the array of companies they're interacting with every day on the Web.
This week, I decided to check out the Firefox add-on called Lightbeam. Essentially, Lightbeam is an application for the Mozilla Firefox web browser allows the user to see any first and third party applications or websites that track them. This application is very informative because it allows you to see how the web is interacting with you. It also allows you to see where your data is going.
I decided to download Firefox after being a long-time Google Chrome user, and install the Lightbeam add-on. I browsed the web for around 20 minutes, going through the usual websites such as Twitter, Facebook, d2l, and other stuff like that. After those 20 minutes, I opened up the Lightbeam tab to show me what websites were tracking me. Lightbeam displayed an informative graph which detailed which paths my data were tracked.
As you can see, I visited 10 websites in the span of 20 minutes, and I got tracked by around 125 third-party websites. Wow, that’s pretty crazy. I got tracked by over 10 times the amount of actual first party websites that I visited. That’s pretty insane.
Unexpectedly, the 2 websites that allowed the most third-party sites to track me were the Washington Post and the Toronto Star. I don’t know what they would be tracking me for exactly, but I think that the websites were either embedded in the first-party webpages or tracking me down to see what kind of news (and therefore interest), I was seeing at the time.
To be quite honest, I thought that Facebook would be the one to allow the most third-party websites to track me, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, the Toronto Star actually led my data to Facebook.
It reassured me that Reddit didn’t really lead my data anywhere but its own database. It makes me happy to know that not all of my data is being shared to other websites (for the time being).
Image source.
However, this graph doesn’t really worry me as much as I think it should. Data sharing technology has advanced so much that I think that this is actually the norm. First-party websites allowing other pages to track you isn’t uncommon, and I think that most websites do it. If I look at the larger scale of things, it definitely does worry me. However, looking at this graph of where I spent my time for 20 minutes doesn’t have as much of an impact on me. I think that it’s because I already know that my data is going to be shared and tracked.
But in the end, what can I do about all of this? Realistically, not much. I wish I could protect my privacy and change settings and start working behind a proxy, but that’s so much work. As much as it sucks to know, I can’t do much about this. It’s simply too inconvenient and time-consuming to work on compared to the risks I face. I also feel as if this is most peoples’ mindset about this issue. However, it does feel good to be informed about this, and that’s why I’m glad that I downloaded Lightbeam.
Lightbeam For Chrome
Using interactive visualizations, Lightbeam enables you to see the first and third party sites you interact with on the Web. As you browse, Lightbeam reveals the full depth of the Web today, including parts that are not transparent to the average user. Using three distinct interactive graphic representations — Graph, Clock and List — Lightbeam enables you to examine individual third parties over time and space, identify where they connect to your online activity and provides ways for you to engage with this unique view of the Web.
How Lightbeam Works:
When you activate Lightbeam and visit a website, sometimes called the first party, the add-on creates a real time visualization of all the third parties that are active on that page. The default visualization is called the Graph view. As you then browse to a second site, the add-on highlights the third parties that are also active there and shows which third parties have seen you at both sites. The visualization grows with every site you visit and every request made from your browser. In addition to the Graph view, you can also see your data in a Clock view to examine connections over a 24-hour period or in a List view to drill down into individual sites.
How You Can Use Lightbeam to Help Us Illuminate the Inner Workings of the Web
Collusion Tracking Software
As a part of Lightbeam, we're creating a big-picture view of how tracking works on the Internet, and how third-party sites are connected to multiple other sites. You may contribute your data to our crowdsourced directory by simply turning on the share switch within the add-on. To disable crowdsourcing, you can turn it off at any time. You can view your local data stored within Lightbeam at any time, or save your data by clicking the 'Save' button under the data section on the left side of the add-on.
How is my information stored?
As a default, all info generated and used for Lightbeam’s visualizations and features are only stored locally on your computer. You can save a copy of your connection history at any time, which is also where you can see the specific data collected by the add-on. You may also reset Lightbeam to erase your locally stored connection history, disable it to stop data collection or uninstall it to instantly remove all locally stored data related to Lightbeam. Additional information related to Lightbeam’s file format is available here
The origins of Lightbeam
Lightbeam began in July 2011 as Collusion, a personal project by Mozilla software developer Atul Varma. Inspired by the book The Filter Bubble, Atul created an experimental add-on to visualize browsing behavior and data collection on the Web.
In February 2012, Gary Kovacs, Mozilla CEO at the time, introduced the Collusion add-on in a TED talk (now one of the most watched TED talks) about exposing online tracking.
Firefox Lighting
In September 2012, Mozilla joined forces with students at Emily Carr University of Art + Design to develop and implement visualizations for the add-on. With the support of the Ford Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Collusion has been re-imagined as Lightbeam and was launched in the fall of 2013.