Hello World is a weekly newsletter sent every Saturday morning that delves into our original research and the questions we pose to big thinkers in the industry.
Hi! I’m Ramsey Isler, director of product at The Markup. I lead the Product and Technology team, which maintains our website and develops many of the innovative tools The Markup is known for. We accomplish all of this without using trackers on our site, which is no easy task.
We live in a world where our digital products are full of algorithms designed to analyze our needs and desires by observing every action we take. At The Markup, we strive to collect as little data as possible from our visitors because we respect their privacy.
However, as a company that primarily operates on the web, we need to know how well we are serving our audience and where we can improve. We believe one of the best ways to get to know our users is simple and traditional: talk to them.
This summer, we have been interviewing several researchers who have used one of our main tools, the Blacklight Privacy Inspector. Blacklight analyzes websites to reveal the tracking technologies they use and with whom they share user data. Since its launch in 2020, it has been used in over 10 million scans by journalists, academics, and researchers from various disciplines. We have established a dialogue with these users to understand how we can improve Blacklight in the future.
One of the main findings we obtained is that users are not necessarily interested in scanning specific pages within a domain. Although we expected this feature to generate great enthusiasm, we discovered it was not a priority for most. Even so, we plan to develop the feature, but with a different priority than we initially considered.
Another recurring theme was the growing interest in TikTok trackers. Some researchers work with government officials and are analyzing the impact of data tracking on the platform, especially among young people, who may be more vulnerable to inappropriate information-sharing practices.
We also discovered a great interest in analyzing how trackers operate in Europe. Although Blacklight has been focused on scans from a US IP address, many researchers want to explore how regulations like GDPR affect tracking in other countries. This has led us to develop a feature that will allow 'simulating' scans from the EU.
Another key finding was the interest in monitoring trackers over time. Many researchers want to understand how trackers on certain websites have evolved and whether regulations have had a real impact on user data protection. Although we have not yet developed a definitive solution for this, we are working on it.
These discoveries reaffirm the importance of continuing to improve and adapt our tools to better serve the research community.
At Q2BSTUDIO, we understand the importance of privacy and developing technological solutions that respect user security. As a company specialized in development and technology services, we focus on creating innovative and efficient tools that meet the needs of today’s digital environment. We share the philosophy that data must be handled responsibly and we continuously work to offer technological solutions that generate trust and transparency.
If you would like to learn more about our solutions and services, visit our site at Q2BSTUDIO.COM.
Thank you for reading.
Ramsey Isler
Director of Product
The Markup
