Tracking Technology

Tools and techniques used to monitor, collect, and record user behavior across websites, apps, and devices, including cookies, pixels, fingerprinting, and similar technologies. Tracking technologies serve various purposes: analytics understanding user behavior, advertising enabling targeted campaigns, personalization customizing experiences, security detecting fraud, and functionality supporting features like shopping carts. Common tracking technologies include: HTTP cookies, web beacons/pixels, JavaScript tags, local storage, mobile advertising identifiers, device fingerprinting, and tracking URLs. Privacy concerns arise because tracking technologies: collect data without obvious visibility, enable profiling across sites and time, can identify individuals even when 'anonymous,' and aggregate to reveal sensitive information. Under GDPR and ePrivacy Directive, non-essential tracking technologies generally require consent. Organizations should: maintain tracking technology inventories, categorize technologies by purpose, implement consent management platforms, provide clear disclosures in cookie policies, honor opt-out signals, and regularly audit tracking implementations. Browser changes blocking third-party tracking are forcing industry evolution toward privacy-preserving alternatives.