Wikipedia: Web browsing history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browsing_history
Web browsing history refers to the list of web pages a user
has visited, as well as associated data such as page title
and time of visit. It is usually stored locally by web
browsers in order to provide the user with a history list to
go back to previously visited pages. It can reflect the
user's interests, needs, and browsing habits.
Wikipedia: Cookie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
A cookie is simply a small file that a web site places on
your computer to store information. The process itself is
totally benign, and can even be helpful-cookies do useful
things like store your shopping cart information between
sessions, save you from the hassle of logging into a site
every time you open and close your browser, and other
helpful time savers.
The ones that give cookies a bad name track users without
their explicit knowledge and help advertisers (or other
entities) build profiles of users. Many people want to limit
the amount of information that is gathered about them, and
do so by limiting the kind of cookies that their browser
accepts and retains.
Regularly Delete History And Website Data (includes cookies)
Removing cookies and more. Wipe your computer of your
browsing history, cookies, and other detritus. It won't
solve the problem on its own, but it is almost essential to
clear away the tools people can use to track you.
Don't know how to delete history and website data on your
browser? Just go to a search engine like DuckDuckGo and
type, "How do I delete history and website data on Firefox
(Chrome, or whatever)?"
Getting Rid of Evercookies from Safari
Not all these elements can be deleted by a user, although
routinely deleting your caches can help. In macOS with
Safari, you've got two options: light and nuclear. For the
"light" option, in Safari choose Safari > Clear History and
select All History from the popup menu, and a huge number of
items get wiped out, including visited pages and browser
cookies. Wiping history deletes it across all linked iCloud
accounts, too.
The nuclear option requires enabling the Develop menu in
Safari > Preferences > Advanced. Check Show Develop Menu in
Menu Bar. From the Develop menu, choose Empty Caches.
There's no warning or going back once you select the item.
This deletes all local storage, all browser cookies, and
everything cached relatived to the Web browser.
Close all tabs, nuking the caches, erasing history, quitting
the browser, and relaunching revealed no evercookies hiding.
We're Getting Buried in Browser Tabs And Scientists Want to
Fix It
https://www.sciencealert.com/tab-overload-is-a-common-problem-for-people-browsing-the-internet-survey-finds
A small new study has found many people who browse the
internet experience tab overload, saving articles to read
later, leaving tasks as reminders, or burrowing down an
internet hole until the stack of open web pages becomes
impossible to navigate.
The clutter can make people feel stressed, distracted,
shamed, and overwhelmed. Despite this, we often avoid
clearing up the mess.
Related:
OLLI Class: Privacy When Using the Internet
http://edu-observatory.org/olli/Privacy/index.html
sam.wormley@gmail.com