pixel.adsafeprotected.com: IAS’s Invasive Ad Tracking

Integral Ad Science’s tracker, pixel.adsafeprotected.com, watches your ad interactions for fraud detection and viewability, collecting data to profile your behavior. This invades your privacy by logging your ad engagement. Here’s what it does and how to resist.

What Is pixel.adsafeprotected.com?

This domain belongs to Integral Ad Science (IAS), a platform for ad verification and fraud detection. It tracks user behavior with ads to ensure campaign integrity, compromising your privacy. As Privacy Auditors, we’re concerned about its data collection practices.

Data It Collects

When you interact with tracked ads, it captures:

• IP Address: Your network location, tied to physical addresses.
• Ad Interactions: Views, clicks, and engagement with ads.
• Geolocation: Lat/long derived from IP for regional analysis.
• Device ID: Unique identifiers for cross-site tracking.
• User Behavior: Ad visibility and interaction timestamps.
• Cookie IDs: Persistent trackers for session continuity.
• Browser Type: Chrome or Firefox, with version details.
• Operating System: Windows or Android, including builds.
• Page URL: Full path of pages with tracked ads.
• Timestamps: Precise timing of ad interactions.

This builds a detailed profile of your ad engagement.

Who Gets Your Data?

IAS shares your information with:

• IAS internal system for ad verification and analytics.
• Third-party advertiser for campaign validation.
• Analytics subcontractor processing ad data.
• Government authority upon legal request, per compliance policies.

How to Protect Yourself

As Privacy Auditors, we suggest these steps to block IAS tracking:

• Use Tracker Blockers: Tools like Privacy Auditor can disable pixel.adsafeprotected.com scripts.
• Mask IP: Use a VPN like Mullvad to hide your location.
• Clear Cookies: Delete ad cookies regularly to stop profiling.
• Browse Anonymously: Use browsers like Tor for better privacy.

Combine these for stronger protection.

Sources

• Integral Ad Science Privacy Policy: https://integralads.com/privacy-policy/

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