excess.duolingo.com: Duolingo’s Invasive Learning Tracker

Duolingo’s excess.duolingo.com is used to track user activity on its language learning platform. It collects data on your learning habits for analytics and ad targeting, compromising your privacy. Here’s what this tracker does.

What Is excess.duolingo.com?

This domain is part of Duolingo’s infrastructure, monitoring how you engage with lessons and exercises on the app or site. It builds profiles based on your activity for internal insights and monetization. As Privacy Auditors, we’re concerned about how educational tools exploit user data.

Data It Collects

When you use Duolingo, this tracker captures:

• IP Address: Links your activity to a location.
• Geolocation: Estimates position from IP data.
• Learning Behavior: Tracks lessons completed and time spent.
• User ID: Links activity if logged in.
• Cookie IDs: Follows you across sessions.
• Session ID: Connects actions during a visit.
• User-Agent: Records browser and device, like ‘Safari 17.0’.
• Page URL: Captures the specific Duolingo page.
• Timestamps: Logs interactions precisely.

This data maps out your learning patterns in detail.

Who Gets Your Data?

Duolingo shares your information with:

• Duolingo’s internal analytics team: Uses data for app insights.
• Third-party ad network: Serves ads within Duolingo.
• Government entity: Duolingo complies with law enforcement for IP and user data per its privacy policy.
• Data storage subcontractor: Hosts user logs.

How to Protect Yourself

At Privacy Auditors, we’re dedicated to your privacy. Here’s how to block Duolingo’s tracking:

• Use Tracker Blockers: Stop this domain with Privacy Auditor tools.
• Hide with a VPN: Mask your IP using Mullvad.
• Opt for Privacy Browsers: Use Firefox or Tor for defense.
• Limit Account Use: Use Duolingo minimally or without logging in.

Combine these steps to reduce tracking.

Sources

• Duolingo Privacy Policy: https://www.duolingo.com/privacy

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