i.mol.im: How MailOnline Tracks Your Reading

MailOnline’s tracker, i.mol.im, monitors your activity on their website to analyze engagement with news content. This invasive tracking erodes your privacy for editorial insights. Here’s what it collects and how to resist.

What Is i.mol.im?

MailOnline, operated by Daily Mail, uses i.mol.im to track your interactions with articles and pages on their site. It gathers data to measure reader behavior, undermining your anonymity. As Privacy Auditors, we’re concerned about this surveillance.

Data It Collects

When you’re on MailOnline, it logs:

• IP Address: Pinpoints your location, often to city level.
• User ID: Tags you for long-term tracking.
• Session ID: Connects actions in a single visit.
• Page URL: Records every article or page you access.
• Referrer URL: Tracks where you came from.
• Clicks: Logs where and when you click on content.
• Scroll Depth: Measures how far you scroll on articles.
• Timestamps: Captures actions with millisecond timing.
• Cookie IDs: Uses identifiers for ongoing monitoring.

This builds a detailed profile of your reading habits.

Who Gets Your Data?

MailOnline shares your information with:

• MailOnline’s internal analytics team: Analyzes engagement with content.
• Third-party analytics provider: Processes data for deeper insights.
• Cloud hosting service: Stores interaction logs.
• Legal authority: Accesses data under legal demands.

How to Protect Yourself

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

• Use Tracker Blockers: Deploy Privacy Auditor tools to stop i.mol.im scripts.
• Mask with a VPN: Hide your IP with a VPN like Mullvad to obscure location.
• Switch to Privacy Browsers: Use Firefox with strict settings or Tor Browser.
• Disable JavaScript: Prevent tracking scripts, though sites may break.
• Clear Cookies Often: Wipe tracking cookies to disrupt profiling.

Combine these defenses to limit exposure to trackers like MailOnline’s.

Sources

Data is sourced from:

• MailOnline Privacy Policy: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/article-1388049/Privacy-Policy-Cookies.html
• MailOnline Website: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/

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