The Markup

Digital illustration of several location pins on a map crossed out with “X’s”

Privacy

Federal Trade Commission Sanctions Location Data Broker X-Mode

The company is prohibited from selling sensitive location data and is ordered to put consumer privacy protections in place

January 11, 2024 17:41 ET

Digital illustration of Monique holding an oversize smartphone and chat bubbles in her arms

LevelUp

Without a Trace: How to Keep Your Phone Off the Grid

We answer the questions readers asked in response to our guide to anonymizing your phone

December 13, 2023 08:00 ET

Digital illustration of a living room, where the furniture and objects are being sucked pixel by pixel into a television displaying a bright white screen

Privacy

Your Smart TV Knows What You’re Watching

Here’s how to turn off “automated content recognition,” the Shazam-like software on smart TVs that tracks what you’re watching

December 12, 2023 08:00 ET

A person holding a credit card as they visit Kroger's website

Privacy

Kroger Sued for Sharing Sensitive Health Data With Meta

Two proposed federal class action lawsuits, filed in the wake of a Markup investigation, accuse the grocer of disclosing private data through its online store and pharmacy

November 27, 2023 09:51 ET

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