Deceptive Patterns
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In-Depth Technical and Legal Analysis of Tracking on Health Related Websites with ERNIE Extension

Author
Vera Wesselkamp, Imane Fouad, C. Santos, Y. Boussad, Nataliia Bielova, A. Legout
Date
15 Nov 2021
Publisher
WPES@CCS
Focus
Privacy & Data Protection
Category
Academic Scholar

ERNIE, a browser extension designed to visualise six state-of-the-art tracking techniques based on cookies, is presented and believed to be an invaluable tool for policy-makers and regulators to improve detection and visualization of the complex tracking techniques used on health related websites.

Searching the Web to find doctors and make appointments online is a common practice nowadays. However, simply visiting a doctors website might disclose health related information. As the GDPR only allows processing of health data with explicit user consent, health related websites must ask consent before any data processing, in particular when they embed third party trackers.Admittedly, it is very hard for owners of such websites to both detect the complex tracking practices that exist today and to ensure legal compliance. In this paper, we present ERNIE, a browser extension we designed to visualise six state-of-the-art tracking techniques based on cookies.