Do Not Track Plus (DNT+) peels back the cover on invisible online tracking and targeted advertising, stopping you from being followed online.  And yes, you are being followed:  online tracking is a very real thing, even though you can’t see it.  It’s time to stop sharing your private information with people you don’t know!

The benefits of using DNT+

• Stop advertisers from knowing what you do online, including your site visits, shopping interests, hobbies, clicks, and geographic location
• Load certain websites up to 4 times faster
• Block 580 different tracking technologies from over 215 tracking companies (and that list is always growing)
• Get the good parts of Facebook and social networking without the bad:  block tracking but still voluntarily share and post (and DNT+ is the only available blocking tool that still lets consumers see and use social buttons)
• See a total count of how many times you’ve blocked tracking since you started using DNT+
• Browse in true privacy, far beyond what built-in “private browsing modes” offer
• Easily see which companies and technologies are trying to track you on each site you visit

There must be a catch, right?  How could DNT+ be free?

No catch.  We have a freemium model, meaning that we offer a free base service (DNT+) and separate paid upgrades, such as our DeleteMe service that removes our customers’ personal information from public websites.  We are also working on another software offering called PrivacySuite that’s currently in beta, but it will have premium upgradeable features like forwarded emails and phone numbers.  The business model is to make awesome products that people love, have lots & lots of free users (and DNT+ will always be free), and then if some of our users want to support us by buying some sort of premium upgrade down the line, we’re good.

We’re also completely dedicated to your privacy, so don’t collect or track anything when you get DNT+ (unlike *cough cough* those other companies with shady ties to marketing people) .  The only thing we can see is that a download took place by a certain IP address so we can figure out how many users we have.  There are no forms to fill out and no tracking of any kind.  In fact, the only connection we ever have to the software is when it asks our servers for updates on new trackers to block.  That’s it!

Why should you care about online tracking?

Online tracking is a lot like this scenario:  you’re browsing online like you always do, but there’s a guy you don’t know standing behind you, looking over your shoulder.  He’s watching everything you do and keeping notes, notes that he’ll use to build a profile of you:  the pictures you upload, the things you like on Facebook, the sites you visit most, the things you like to buy, where you live, and more.  He’s going to sell this profile of you, with all your browsing information, to other guys you don’t know.

• Lowered credit scores and credit limits
• Denial of insurance coverage, or more expensive coverage
• Lost job opportunities, whether you aren’t hired to begin with or you’re fired because of something online
• Identity theft (one particularly harmful example happened in 2005, when identity thieves pretending to be small businesses were given access to ChoicePoint’s database of over 163,000 consumers’ financial records)
• Filter bubbles (to sum up this concept, we all see different things based on our targeted advertising profiles, which means we’re losing a collective understanding of the news and the world, things that are key to the democratic process)
• Censorship of speech and association due to fear that what we do online will come back to haunt us
• Erosion of the 4th Amendment right to privacy, particularly society’s collective understanding of when an expectation of privacy is “reasonable”

You’ll be shocked to see how many different companies are monitoring you on a single website.  Check out our “Top in Tracking” below for a preview of what you’ll come across.  And because loading all of these tracking companies’ data takes up your computer’s resources and your time, blocking them with DNT+ lets you load certain websites up to four times faster!

More about how DNT+ works

Although it is a powerful privacy tool, DNT+ is simple, user-friendly, and free.  Its icon sits in the corner of your browser and displays a number on each site you visit, which represents how many companies are attempting to gather information about you.

By expanding the DNT+ window, you can see more details on the specific companies and technologies attempting to track you, as well as an all-time count of blocked tracking attempts.

Download DNT+ today and take charge of your personal privacy once and for all.  It’s available today for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari browsers.

Learn more about how DNT+ works here, and check out what people are saying about it. Don’t hesitate to say hello if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions!

For a guided tour of DNT click here.