Privacy - The Markup

Digital illustration of a phone displaying a privacy policy, with various parts of it highlighted and annotated with numbers. Behind the phone are 6 vignettes that are numbered. The first vignette shows a car with a dashed line pointing to a location symbol. The second vignette shows a series of spheres on a conveyer belt passing through a machine; they end up as cubes. The third vignette is a bunch of browser windows with little fuzzballs interspersed among them. The fourth vignette shows two hands about to shake, and dollar signs are behind them. The fifth vignette shows a room, with eyes peering in the back of the room. The sixth vignette shows a black tentacle creature chasing a blue cursor character.

The BreakdownPrivacy

How to Quickly Get to the Important Truth Inside Any Privacy Policy

An investigative data journalist and a former tech lawyer teach you how to spot tricks and hidden disclosures within these interminable documents—and even how to claw back some privacy

August 3, 2023 08:00 ET

Photograph of a closeup of hands typing on a laptop.

Pixel Hunt

Help Us Investigate Surveillance Marketing Using Facebook Data

Surveillance marketers are upping their game. Instead of relying on tracking pixels, companies are now sending tracking data directly to one another

August 2, 2023 08:00 ET

A digital illustration in bright copic marker and pencil shows a repetitive dollar-sign motif with two solid circles overlapping in the center of the image. Where they overlap, there is a binary-code pattern of zeroes and 1s, which represents information shared digitally. Two hands reach out of the digital space. The hand on the left holds a bag of over-the-counter products. The hand on the right holds a smartphone with an app open, showing sponsored advertisements for the same products in the bag to the left.

Pixel Hunt

Need to Get Plan B or an HIV Test Online? Facebook May Know About It

Twelve of the largest drug stores in the U.S. sent shoppers’ sensitive health information to Facebook or other platforms, according to an investigation by The Markup and KFF Health News

June 30, 2023 08:00 ET

Digital illustration of a hologram of a person's head, with glowing blobs emitting around it. The hologram is surrounded by bean characters who are staring at it.

Privacy

How Your Attention Is Auctioned Off to Advertisers

In mere milliseconds, online advertisers scrutinize your personal data and bid for your eyeballs

June 23, 2023 09:00 ET

Surreal digital illustration of various vignettes and closeups of people in pain and suffering. At the center of the composition is a phone showing a text conversation with a crisis center.

Pixel Hunt

Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook

The Markup found many sites tied to the national mental health crisis hotline transmitted information on visitors through the Meta Pixel

June 13, 2023 06:00 ET

Digital illustration of scientists analyzing a wall filled with boxes containing human heads. Some scientists have clipboards, others are picking up the heads off the shelves.

Privacy

From “Heavy Purchasers” of Pregnancy Tests to the Depression-Prone: We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You

A spreadsheet on ad platform Xandr’s website revealed a massive collection of “audience segments” used to target consumers based on highly specific, sometimes intimate information and inferences

June 8, 2023 06:00 ET

A photo collage of the class action suit against Life360.

Privacy

Life360 Sued for Selling Location Data

A proposed class-action lawsuit cites Markup reporting and claims the family-tracking app did not get user consent to sell location data

June 1, 2023 13:00 ET

Illustration of a grocery store basket on a conveyer belt, filled with various objects including smiley faces, location pins, credit cards, data blocks, envelopes and receipts.

Privacy

Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You

When you use supermarket discount cards, you are sharing much more than what is in your cart—and grocery chains like Kroger are reaping huge profits selling this data to brands and advertisers

February 16, 2023 08:00 ET

Illustration of a map, with the roads evoking the silhouette of a head. There are various pencils filling in checkmarks on location pins scattered throughout the map.

Privacy

How Political Campaigns Use Your Phone’s Location to Target You

Before you got in line on Election Day, the emerging and largely unregulated political tracking industry was able to trace your movements

November 8, 2022 08:00 ET

Photograph of a Planned Parenthood building with a sign at the front that says "Now Open by Appointment."

Privacy

Planned Parenthood Data Found on Another Location Data Dashboard

A free trial dashboard from INRIX listed Planned Parenthood as a “chain,” with at least 71 locations in 35 states

July 15, 2022 13:00 ET