Privacy Badger Review

Orange privacy badger iconPrivacy Badger is a free third party tracker and ad blocking extension that is a new comer to the community. Released in 2014, this privacy tool is the project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Privacy Badger’s goal is to block tracking advertisements and block tracking cookies to help protect your privacy. At this time, it only supports Chrome and Firefox. Other versions are coming soon.

Like others, you can choose to change the setting for each tracker. That gives you the option to block the trackers you want to block. In this review, we will show you how to use, download, and install the Privacy Badger extension.

Privacy Badger Funding

Funding for Privacy Badger comes from the EFF. Though you do not have to donate to the EFF, Privacy Badger gives you the chance to. We recommend you support their efforts. A nice part of the blocker is that it will let you know if an ad is tracking you across multiple sites. You may also block ads from specific domains by moving the sliders. Privacy Badger is a favorite browser extension of many privacy advocates.

Privacy Badger for Chrome

To get Privacy Badger for Chrome, you will need to click on the menu button in the browser. Afterwards, go to More tools, and then Extensions.

Adblock Plus install

You will now be taken to the Extensions screen from Chrome.

get more extensions

Select the option that says get more extensions. On the left side, type in Privacy Badger. You will see several different options here, but you want to choose the extension that says Privacy Badger offered by www.eff.org. Next, click on the add to Chrome button under the extensions heading to get started.

Privacy Badger for Chrome

When prompted, click add extension.

Privacy Badger for Chrome

How to Use Privacy Badger for Chrome

Now that the extension is installed, you will be prompted to take a tour.

Privacy Badger for Chrome

Once you go through the tour, close Chrome and re open it. You can leave the settings alone or change them. To change them, click on the Privacy Badger icon. Now, click on the gear to access the options page. As you can see below, you may disable Privacy Badger for specific sites.

Privacy Badger for Chrome

There are four tabs located in this section. Those are User Filter Settings, Whitelisted domains, Social Widget Settings, and General settings.

User Filter Settings – This tab will show you the potential trackers on the page. You can block all trackers completely, block only the cookies, or you can allow everything. As it says, you really do not have to move the sliders unless something is broken.

Whitelisted domains – This tab is where you add domains you want to whitelist.

Social Widgets Settings – There is one button on this tab. You can either disable or enable Social Widget Replacement.

General Settings – There is only one check box on this tab. You may click the box that says Show count of blocked items.

privacy badger options page

Now, Privacy Badger is ready for use on Chrome.

Privacy Badger for Firefox

To get Privacy Badger for Firefox, go the website https://www.eff.org/privacybadger and click on the button that says Install Privacy Badger.

install privacy badger for firefox

Once you do that, you will get a pop up message like this one. Go ahead and click on Allow.

privacy badger install pop up

Next, click on Install.

install privacy badger

Once it is installed, you will see the same tour we mentioned in the Chrome section. Now, you can browse like you normally would, and know which third party ads are tracking you. If you do not see any ads missing from a webpage that you are viewing, the ads are in compliance with the do not track rules.

The Differences With and Without Privacy Badger

In the image below, you see a webpage without using Privacy Badger. There are several ads visible.

webpage without privacy badger

Now, we will show you the same page with Privacy Badger.

website with privacy badger enabled.

As you can see, there are ads blocked on the site. Just remember that not all ads are blocked by default. To block specific ads, you will need to disable the trackers for that ad. Privacy Badger is mainly a privacy tool, not an ad blocker.

Why Use Privacy Badger?

Privacy Badger does a good job of blocking third party ad trackers. It will keep you safe from those sites that follow your browsing activity across multiple sources. We are happy that Privacy Badger is going to be available for other desktop and mobile versions soon.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we like Privacy Badger’s ease of use. As you browse more with Privacy Badger, the extension will make changes without you having to move sliders. You won’t need to make any changes to the sliders unless the websites stop working. Because Privacy Badger is primarily a privacy tool, it will not block all ads. If you want more ads blocked, we suggest using other ad blockers as well. You can use additional tools like a VPN to protect your privacy.

Visit Privacy Badger

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