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Excellent reporting, alarming findings. Bloomberg's @dmehro et al found U.S. state government health websites are sharing people's personal info (sex, citizenship & race data) with tech giants via pixel-sized webpage trackers. Several states pulled the trackers after Bloomberg disclosed.
ALWAYS USE AN AD-BLOCKER. But really!
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-healthcare-advertising-trackers-privacy/
@zackwhittaker @Binder @dmehro “Pixel” is the common term for these things but it makes them sound like a little blip or mark and gives people the wrong idea. In reality they ingest *enormous* amounts of data from sites and pages where they are allowed to operate, more than the site owners are really aware of.
I tried to look at the Bloomberg article about the super-sneaky ad trackers that spy on us for Big Tech. However, Bloomberg wouldn't let me see it unless I turned off my ad blocker. Yeah, Bloomberg-Doomberg, dream on! See you in, oh, about... never.
@zackwhittaker Little doubt a byproduct of Western Capitalism profit over all else, for generations, resulting in further, more intimate betrayals. #DataMining need not be so invasive, like overt Capitalism.
I am really ignorant about this stuff but ... Using Firefox, I cannot get to the US Veterans (VA) website for my medical data. I also cannot get into the USAF medical website with Firefox. I have to use Chrome.
I don't know if this info pertains to this issue but thought I'd leave this uneducated post for people who actually understand all this stuff.
Bigger question.
Supposedly @mozilla Firefox is a "user agent". An agent is so done or something acting on our behalf.
How is Firefox not default blocking this garbage?
(Aside: we know why Alphabet/google/Chrome doesnt. Its put out by the largest and nastiest adtech firm)
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