aax-eu.amazon-adsystem.com: Amazon’s Invasive Ad Tracking Tool

Amazon’s aax-eu.amazon-adsystem.com is a core component of its advertising ecosystem, designed to monitor your online behavior and create detailed profiles for targeted ads. This tracker invades your privacy by collecting extensive data. Here’s a breakdown of its purpose and how to shield yourself from it.

What Is aax-eu.amazon-adsystem.com?

This domain belongs to Amazon Advertising, a platform that serves ads across Amazon’s properties and partner websites. It traces your interactions to ensure ads follow you wherever you go online. As Privacy Auditors, we’re alarmed by how deeply it digs into your personal data.

Data It Collects

When you encounter this tracker, it grabs:

• Geolocation: IP-based location data pinpointing your city or neighborhood.
• Browsing History: URLs visited, search terms, and product views on Amazon or partner sites.
• IP Address: Your unique internet identifier tied to your location.
• Ad Interactions: Clicks on ads, timestamps, and ad IDs.
• Device Identifiers: Unique IDs like Advertising ID or device model (e.g., iPhone 13).
• User ID: Amazon account ID or session ID linking actions across devices.
• Cookie IDs: Tracking cookies for cross-site tracking.
• Browser Type: Specific browser and version (e.g., Chrome 120.0).
• Operating System: Details like Android 14 or Windows 11.
• Referrer URL: Source of traffic, such as a search engine or affiliate link.
• Timestamps: Exact time of interactions down to the second.

This data paints a vivid picture of your habits, ripe for exploitation in ad targeting.

Who Gets Your Data?

Amazon shares this information with:

• Amazon Advertising Network: Uses your data for ad targeting and analytics.
• Third-Party Advertiser: Receives insights via Amazon DSP for campaign results.
• Cloud Provider: AWS or similar hosts the data infrastructure.
• Law Enforcement Agency: Data shared upon legal request, per Amazon’s transparency reports.

How to Protect Yourself

We at Privacy Auditors urge you to take action against such invasive tracking:

• Block Trackers: Use Privacy Auditor’s paid service to stop scripts from aax-eu.amazon-adsystem.com. The free version identifies trackers.
• Use a VPN: Mask your IP with a service like Mullvad to obscure your location.
• Choose Privacy Browsers: Opt for Firefox with strict tracking protection or Tor Browser.
• Disable Cookies: Clear or block cookies regularly to disrupt tracking.
• Limit Amazon Usage: Avoid browsing while logged into Amazon accounts.

Combine these steps for stronger defense against Amazon’s trackers.

Sources

• Amazon Privacy Policy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468496
• Amazon Advertising: https://advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-policy
• Netify AI Domain Info: https://www.netify.ai/resources/domains/amazon-adsystem.com

This is a legal disclaimer. All information is provided for educational purposes only.