INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightEPAImage caption
The "filthy rich" persona opens up web pages for designer clothes and dressage horses
If you have ever wondered what the internet looks like if you are filthy rich, now is your chance to find out
A project called Track This fools ad-tracking firms into thinking you have lots of cash, by opening many web pages at shops favoured by the
wealthy.It seeks to disguise the data profiles that ad firms gather about people so individuals can recover some privacy.It also lets people
pose as an influencer, a streetwear fan and someone who thinks the world will end.The project was co-created by Mschf Internet Studios and
web development group Mozilla as an alternative to the ad-blockers many people use to sanitise what they see when they browse the web.In a
blog explaining Track This, Mozilla said that it tried to thwart advertisers' efforts to build up detailed profiles of regular web users
It said this tracking got "shady" when the data was gathered without users' explicit consent
Image copyrightMozillaImage caption
The site lets people pose as one of four different web personas
"You
should still have control over what advertisers know about you - which can be tough when web trackers operate out of sight," it added.Those
using Track This will have up to 100 tabs opened up by their browser for sites, shops, accounts and news organisations tuned to one of the
four fake personalities on offer
Track This users will still see adverts, said Mozilla, but just for products they would not usually browse or buy
The 100 tabs should be enough to nudge tracking systems into adjusting the profile data they have gathered, it said.Tabs opened for the
"filthy rich" persona include exclusive credit cards, Las Vegas casinos, expensive jewellery, designer clothes, dressage horses,
multi-million dollar houses and islands that are for sale
"I was always fascinated with the idea of taking on other personas through ads," Daniel Greenberg, a spokesman for Mschf Internet Studios
which developed Track This, told news site Vice."We wanted to do something visceral that makes the user feel like they're in control again,"
he said.Mschf's other projects include a modified copy of the first episode of TV series Mad Men, in which all the cigarettes were replaced
by kazoos.The video aimed to highlight the influence of cigarettes in films and other media
