Web Bug

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A web bug (also called a web beacon, tracking bug, tracker, tracking pixel, pixel tag, clear gif, and 1×1 gif) is an object that is embedded in a web page (usually in order to track the page's popularity) or e-mail (usually in order to track when an email is read / opened) and is usually invisible to the user but allows checking that a user has viewed the page or e-mail. A web bug is commonly categorized as Spyware.


Detecting Web Bugs

Without help, web bugs are very difficult to detect and block. The reason is that they are very small (usually 1x1 pixel) and that they are invisible when viewing the web page. One way to detect a web bug is to look at a page's source code: if you see that a IMG tag loaded from a different server than the other ones, then you will know that web bug is on the page you are on. A web bug is loaded from a different server so that they are easily distinguished from regular GIF files. Another way to detect web bugs is to use an add-on called Ghostery (for Mozilla Firefox (recommended), Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome).


Necessity of a Privacy Policy

If your website uses web bugs, for whatever reason, this needs to mentioned in your site's Privacy Policy.

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