Shine a Light on Who’s Watching You

See Who’s Tracking You Online

• Lightbeam is a Firefox add-on.• It uses interactive visualizations to show you

the first and third party sites you interact with on the Web.

• As you browse, Lightbeam reveals the full depth of the Web today.

• Reveals parts that are not transparent to the average user.

How Lightbeam Works

Download and run the Lightbeam add-on in your Firefox browser.

Lightbeam will create a record of events for every site you visit and every third party site that is stored locally on your browser.

How Lightbeam Works

Lightbeam visually graphs these events to highlight the interactions between sites you intentionally visit and the third parties.

Lightbeam will continue to add to your graph as you browse the Web.

Tracking & privacy

• Not all tracking is bad. • Many services rely on user data to provide relevant

content and enhance your online experience. • But tracking can happen without the user’s

knowledge. That’s not okay for some. • It should be you who decides when and how your

browsing data to be shared.

We recognize the importance of transparency and our mission is all about empowering users — both with tools and information.

How the add-on works

Lightbeam visualizes the relationships between the sites you visit and the third party sites that are active

on those pages.

Visited Sites Third Party Sites

How the add-on works

• Using three distinct interactive graphic representations :– Graph, Clock and List

• Lightbeam enables you to examine individual third parties over time and space.

• Identify where they connect to your online activity.

• It provides ways for you to engage with this unique view of the Web.

Graph View

Graph View

• The default Graph view provides a real time visualization of every site you visit and all third party requests made from your browser.

• The Graph view also provides adjustable filters that allow you to visualize more types of data at a glance.

Clock View

Clock View

• The Clock view allows you to examine connections over a 24-hour period.

List View

List View

• The List view provides more options for drilling down into individual sites.

• Site preferences in the List view enable you to – Block sites from connecting to your Firefox

browser.– Watch sites you’re interested in.– Hide sites you don’t want to see visualized.

Information Panel

• Lightbeam also offers an information panel that provides additional details about the site you selected and the sites it has connected to.

Three Simple Steps

Visualize your data:After you download and install the Lightbeam add-on to Firefox, it will begin to create a real time visualization of the websites you visit and all the third parties that are also active on those pages.

Analyze your connectionsAs your visualizations grow, you can take a closer look into the relationships between the various first and third party sites that are stored in your data. You can also reset or save your data at any time.

Contribute your dataAs a part of Lightbeam, we are creating a big-picture view of Internet tracking and of how first and third party sites are connected. To help us, you can contribute your data to our Lightbeam database.

The Origins Of Lightbeam

• Lightbeam began in July 2011 as Collusion, a personal project by Mozilla software developer Atul Varma.

• Inspired by the book, The Filter Bubble.• Atul created an experimental add-on to visualize browsing

behaviour and data collection on the Web.• In February 2012, Gary Kovacs, Mozilla CEO at the time,

introduced the Collusion add-on in a TED talk about exposing online tracking.

The Origins Of Lightbeam

• In September 2012, Mozilla joined forces with students at Emily Carr University of Art + Design to develop and implement visualizations for the add-on.

• With the support of the Ford Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Collusion has been re-imagined as Lightbeam and was launched in the fall of 2013.

Why Lightbeam?

• At Mozilla, we believe that everyone should have the tools to make their own decisions about their online privacy and who collects data on them.

• With the Lightbeam add-on and database server, we are providing a valuable (and open) community research platform that aims to– Raise awareness– Promote analysis – Affect policy change in the areas of tracking and privacy.

• Lightbeam is one step in a larger, concerted effort by Mozilla and its partners to provide Web users with greater control and transparency of their personal data.

Queries?

Thank You

@umesh_agarwal1

https://reps.mozilla.org/u/umesh/

https://fosswithumesh.wordpress.com

umesh.agarwal1@gmail.com

Irc Nick - umesh