Cliqz open-sources anti-tracking tool Ghostery
You can now review and contribute to the software code on GitHub. With this move, Cliqz and Ghostery demonstrate their commitment to transparency and an open internet.
Just over a year after it was acquired by Cliqz, the anti-tracking tool Ghostery goes Open Source. Like the complete client-side software code of Cliqz, Ghostery’s source code of its popular browser extension is now publicly available on GitHub. This move demonstrates Cliqz’ and Ghostery’s commitment to transparency.
By reviewing the software code, you can now see for yourself how Ghostery works and what types of data it collects. In addition, the worldwide developer community and Ghostery’s highly committed user community get the opportunity to contribute directly to the source code and to Ghostery’s effort to make the internet cleaner, faster and safer.
Transparency through open source
“When it comes to putting users in control of their data, privacy and transparency are equally important. Only when individuals clearly understand what data digital products are collecting can they make meaningful decisions about what information they share and with whom,” said Jeremy Tillman, Director of Product at Ghostery:
Our software lets users see who tracks them and provides transparency into the impenetrable and secretive world of commercial online surveillance. In an effort to be as open as possible with our own users, we are following the example of our parent company, Cliqz, to publish Ghostery’s source code and make it freely available to the world.
Ghostery has a very passionate and active user community. Most users already voluntarily contribute to statistics that are used by Ghostery and its parent company Cliqz to discover new trackers and unveil the invisible tracking ecosystem that pervades the web. These strictly anonymous statistics are also used to assess the relevance and safety of websites. The technical basis for this data contribution is the Human Web, an open source data architecture built by Cliqz that uses anonymization and encryption technologies to prevent interception and to ensure these statistics contain no data about individual influencers, ensuring total privacy and transparency.
Ghostery’s privacy-enhancing browser extensions are available for free download for all popular browsers, including Cliqz. The mobile app for Android or iOS can be downloaded free of charge from Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Ghostery’s software code is available here: https://github.com/ghostery/ghostery-extension.
