Is Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker safe?
Ghostery sends browsing URLs, page titles, and search queries to its servers when the WhoTracks.Me reporting feature is enabled.
When users opt in to the WhoTracks.Me feedback program, Ghostery monitors tab navigations across all pages and transmits visited URLs, page titles, and extracted search queries to anonymous-communication.ghostery.net using encrypted POST requests. On search engine pages, it additionally re-fetches the page to extract query details before sending. The extension also sends product telemetry pings to d.ghostery.com on install and at regular activity intervals, including browser, OS, and engagement metadata.
Who publishes itGhostery - no other listings under this identity, 16 shared hostnames
Ghostery - no other listings under this identity, 16 shared hostnames
What this publisher told the store about itself, and the other listings that told it the same thing.
Shared hosts - 16 hostnames
Hostnames hardcoded in this extension that few other listings call. That can mean one operator behind both, and it can equally mean a small shared vendor, so it is context rather than a conclusion. Hosts that many listings call are left out: they are services, not connections.
AI-generated. Findings may contain errors. Those marked Verified have been manually reviewed.
Publishers can request a review.
What it can do
Permissions this extension asks for, as declared in version 10.6.10. Asking for a permission is not a finding on its own - it is what the extension can do if it chooses to.
Read and change your data on every site you visit
http://*/* and 2 more
Read and change your data on every secure site you visit
https://*/*
Schedule its own background tasks
alarms
Add items to the right-click menu
contextMenus
Read and change cookies, including the ones that keep you signed in
cookies
Store data in your browser
storage
Run its own code inside the pages you visit
scripting
See the address and title of every tab you have open
tabs
Act on the current tab, but only after you click the extension
activeTab
See every page you navigate to, as you navigate to it
webNavigation
Watch every request your browser makes
webRequest
Watch, block and rewrite every request your browser makes
webRequestBlocking
Store an unlimited amount of data in your browser
unlimitedStorage
Where it sends data
Destinations our analysis observed Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker contacting. Sending data somewhere is not a finding on its own - an extension that syncs your settings has to talk to its own server - but it is where your data can go, and who else it goes to.
- anonymous-communication.ghostery.net
Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker sends data to anonymous-communication.ghostery.net. One other extension we have analyzed sends data here.
- d.ghostery.com
Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker sends data to d.ghostery.com. No other extension we have analyzed sends data here.