About

Online advertising systems like Google or Microsoft increasingly track users. They gather information about users, such as the websites they visit and their location, and use it to profile users and target ads to them. This has led to increasing complaints and calls for regulation from privacy and consumer protection groups.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS), have developed a non-tracking advertising system that is far more private. This system, called Privad, is based on three main principles:

  • Users are never tracked.
  • Users opt-in.
  • Advertisers cannot target sensitive information, including health, finances, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, personal relationships and political activity.

We have built a prototype of our system. If you are a Firefox user, you can help us with our research by installing the addon below.

We are also participating in www.trackingfree.org, which aims to develop strong privacy standards for the client-based advertising industry.

For more details, see the system overview, prototype details and privacy statement.

Software

Firefox Addon

Papers

People