global.px.quantserve.com: How Quantcast Tracks Your Browsing

Quantcast’s tracker, global.px.quantserve.com, shadows your online activity to create detailed profiles for advertising. This invasive practice strips away your privacy for profit. Here’s what it collects and how to fight back.

What Is global.px.quantserve.com?

Quantcast is an ad tech company that uses global.px.quantserve.com to monitor your web behavior. It gathers data to categorize you for targeted ads, undermining your anonymity. As Privacy Auditors, we’re alarmed by the depth of this surveillance.

Data It Collects

When you visit a site with Quantcast tracking, it logs:

• IP Address: Locates you, often down to your city.
• Browser Fingerprint: Combines settings and plugins to identify you uniquely.
• User ID: Tags you with a persistent identifier for long-term tracking.
• Session ID: Connects your actions in a single visit.
• Page URL: Records every page you browse.
• Referrer URL: Notes where you came from before landing on a site.
• Timestamps: Captures every move with precise timing.
• Cookie IDs: Uses tags like _qca to follow you across the web.
• Device Type: Logs if you’re on a phone or computer.

This builds a comprehensive ad profile tied to your online identity.

Who Gets Your Data?

Quantcast shares your information with:

• Advertiser: Companies targeting you with personalized ads.
• Ad exchange platform: Bids on your profile in real-time auctions.
• Third-party data broker: Aggregates and sells your data.
• Legal entity: Accesses data under legal or regulatory demands.

How to Protect Yourself

At Privacy Auditors Institute, we’re committed to defending your privacy. Here’s how to block Quantcast’s tracking:

• Use Tracker Blockers: Deploy tools like Privacy Auditor to halt global.px.quantserve.com scripts.
• Mask with a VPN: Hide your IP using a VPN like Mullvad to obscure location data.
• Switch to Privacy Browsers: Use Firefox with strict protections or Tor Browser for anonymity.
• Turn Off JavaScript: Stop tracking scripts by disabling JavaScript, though some sites may not work.
• Delete Cookies Regularly: Clear tracking cookies to disrupt profiling.

Stack these defenses to reduce exposure to trackers like Quantcast.

Sources

Information comes from:

• Quantcast Privacy Policy: https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/
• Quantcast Cookie Policy: https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/cookie-policy/

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