Trackers

What are trackers ?

There are proprietary or third-party cookies. The latter are called trackers.

Proprietary cookies are small files that the browser uses to record data about the sites you've visited. Websites use cookies to “recognize” individual users. For example, to avoid asking for their username and password every time they visit the site.

Trackers (or third-party cookies) are small pieces of the website software code. When you open a site, trackers load automatically, collect information (such as location, device type, or IP address), and send it back to their owner. A tracker can be hosted both by the site administrator and by site partners. For example, the site that you're viewing has an ad banner from http://www.example.org. This banner sends your browser a cookie that stores information about your activity on the site. If you visit another site with an ad banner from http://www.example.org, the ad network makes a connection between these visits.

Why are trackers useful?

A site owner can use trackers to estimate how many visitors the site gets, what regions they're from, and what devices they use. This data can help them optimize the site for audience needs.
Trackers allow you to use the same login across multiple sites.

Trackers from sites that you visited yourself (such as social networks) are most likely used in good faith.

Examples of malicious use

: Malicious tracker owners may collect the personal data that you enter on a website, such as your phone number or email address, and sell it to third parties. As a result, you may receive emails with unwanted ads or get annoying calls from advertisers who you never gave your phone number to.

We consider malicious data tracking to be a violation of your privacy. To protect it, we developed a special YTP technology for Yandex Browser. This technology is a part of the Protect active protection system.

What is YTP

Your Tracking Protection (YTP) is a technology that restricts trackers. By using it, you can choose which resources to trust with your data.

YTP has a simple underlying principle: only the websites that you've visited before are allowed to run trackers. Only these sites can transfer your data from site to site and show you relevant ads. If you haven't visited a website for 45 days, Yandex Browser starts blocking its trackers.

Advertising allows site owners to receive income, and you don't have to pay for viewing their pages. Yandex aims to find a balance between free services and unobtrusive ads.

This way, you can continue using the internet in a way that's convenient for you (such as use the same login on different sites), while sites can support themselves financially without using irrelevant ads that bother users.

Pages where trackers are blocked load much faster.

You can also use the YTP technology to find out what trackers are running on a page and block the ones that you don't trust.

Blocking trackers for all sites

Click → Settings → Websites.
At the bottom of the page, click Advanced site settings.
In the Cookies section, select what you want to block:
- Restrict third-party cookies: Only allow them to be used by websites that you've visited before.
- Block third-party cookies: Block them for all websites.

Block trackers on a site

In the SmartBox, click the connection status icon on the left. The Protect panel opens.
In the Ad and tracker blocking section, click Settings. The Privacy window opens on the right.
Under Trackers on this web page, find the tracker, click next to it, and select:
- Block permanently to block the tracker until you unblock it.
- Unblock to unblock the tracker.

If the site doesn't work without trackers

Some sites can't function properly without using third-party cookies. For example, you purchase a ticket online, but then you can't choose your seat because that part of the site stops working. If a site doesn't work, try to disable tracker blocking:

In the SmartBox, click the connection status icon. The Protect panel opens.
In the Ad and tracker blocking section, click Settings. The Privacy window opens on the right.
Under Trackers on this web page, click Site not working?
In the window that opens, click Allow third-party cookies.
In the message that opens, click Update to reload the page.

To re-enable tracking protection:

In the SmartBox, click the connection status icon. The Protect panel opens.
In the Ad and tracker blocking section, click Settings. The Privacy window opens on the right.
In the Trackers on this web page section, click Enable protection.
In the message that opens, click Update to reload the page.

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