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cross-site tracking

Cross-site tracking is the practice of collecting and linking information about a person's activity on different websites to identify or follow that person across those websites over time.

In plain English

It means information from separate websites is tied together so the same person can be recognised from one site to another. The key idea is linking activity across sites over time, rather than looking only at what happens on one website.

In context

Here, the term names tracking that links a person's activity across different websites or services so the person can be identified or followed over time.

Situation
Understanding encryption, privacy, data-sharing, and secure-connection labels
What it communicates
names tracking across different websites or services

Meaning limits

The term by itself does not say what specific information is collected or linked, only that activity on different websites is connected to identify or follow a person over time.

Examples

“When the company linked her visits to a parenting forum, a toy shop, and a video site over several weeks, it was engaging in cross-site tracking.”

Core meaning

“Several parents objected to cross-site tracking between the school's fundraising site and the ticket seller's website.”

In context