I recently signed up for DuckDuckGo’s email newsletter. Privacy Badger logo - a smiling badger headThe last couple of letters have been about protecting yourself from online trackers – no shock given DuckDuckGo’s emphasis on search privacy. That couch I priced last month? Those funky shoes my friend told me to check out? Those pesky Home Depot ads? It turns out that not only are these ads reminders that are supposed to prompt you to purchase, this morning’s email from Dax the Duck, DuckDuckGo’s mascot, reminded me that the links that I follow may also influence the products’ prices. Most of us have seen the fluctuations in airline ticket prices depending on day, time (and sometimes I swear it could be temperature!) that occur when we’re making reservations. Unseen are the price differences between my search and someone else’s for all sorts of things from staplers to Uber.

So how do we keep sites from following us around or charging us more based on where we’re located, which operating system we’re using, or how much charge is left in our phone battery? You can clear cookies often. You can block third party cookies in your browser. Another option is to install Privacy Badger, a browser plug-in from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) that blocks third-party cookies. It blocks common trackers, it learns as you use it, and it’s easy to adjust in case it blocks something that keeps a site from working. If you’ve tried Privacy Badger or have a site that’s followed you around for weeks or from device to device, tell us in the comments!