We've mentioned Collusion for Firefox in the past, but the folks at Disconnect have rebuilt the plugin for Chrome users as well, giving them the same live view of how the sites you visit on the web are tracking and transmitting data about you as you browse. As you browse, you can pull up the Collusion map to see which sites have dropped tracking cookies on your system and who else those sites send data to, all in real-time.


Once installed, Collusion works much like its Firefox counterpart, except with better tracking detection and some UI changes Chrome users will appreciate. The map is completely empty. As you browse, you'll see the sites you visit start to appear on the map, and if they drop tracking cookies on your computer you'll see them in red. Hover over any of the circles on the map to read more about the site, and whether it's a known tracker. If you already have privacy extensions installed, you'll likely see fewer circles on your map. Either way, you'll probably see lots of interconnected circles—especially if you visit any page that has ads, connects to social networks, or uses metrics to track its visitors across networked sites (like this one.) As we mentioned before, some of the dots are completely harmless like Disqus, for example, which tracks you across sites so you can comment on articles,) while others may be cause for concern. It's a tool for you to use to evaluate your own privacy.


The add-on is developed by the same folks who make tools like previously mentioned Disconnect for Chrome and their stand-alone apps plugins, Facebook Disconnect, Google Disconnect, and Twitter Disconnect, all of which remove annoying social buttons from your favorite sites and blocks their integration. If you want to do something about it, we've discussed how your activities are tracked on the web, and what you can do about it in the past, and Collusion for Chrome is just one more tool you can add to your toolkit.

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Collusion for Chrome | Disconnect.me