Dashboard
This is a PrimeLife release of a Firefox extension that helps you track what information is collected by the websites you visit, together with a means to set your preferences on a site by site basis.
| License | Programming Language | Operating System/Platform | Category | Intended Audience | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W3C Software Notice and License | JavaScript | Mozilla Firefox | Privacy Tools | Endusers | Install latest |
The extension logs your http traffic to a local database on your computer, and provides a variety of queries for analyzing them. You can see whether the current website you are visiting uses third party content, invisible images and much more. You can set per site preferences, e.g. to block 3rd party cookies or content, to disable scripting and so forth. Note that some of these preferences only take effect when the page is reloaded or as you move to other pages within the same website.
The extension should be platform independent, but there may some platform related bugs. Periodic updates are expected over the next few months to deal with bug fixes, feature requests and localizations to languages other than English.
Installation
You are advised to install the extension into a fresh Firefox Profile to avoid any risks to your settings. The risk should be pretty minimal, but this is an alpha release, and we can't make any guarantees. To create a Firefox profile launch Firefox with the profile manager.
To install the extension download the XPI file and drag it to a Firefox browser window. We plan to implement automatic checks for updates in the future. For now if you want to install an update, first use the Firefox Tools|Add ons menu to select and uninstall the previous version before you try to install the update.
INSTALL LATEST DASHBOARD IN FIREFOX (from addons.mozilla.org)
Install (local copy)
How to use the Dashboard
The extension adds an smiley icon to the browser's navigation toolbar. This changes to reflect a measure of the privacy friendliness of the current web page. Click on the face to view details for the current site. The first time you visit a less than perfect site, the Firefox notification bar appears and invites you to load the page this time, to always load the page or to view more options.The Dashboard pop-up dialog has a number of tabs. The first allows you to make queries on the sites you've previously visited. The second allows you to see your current location (if you are on WiFi) and allows you to revoke permissions you've recorded for sites to access your geographic location. The third tab gives information on the current site along with your preferences for that site. The last tab describes the Dashboard.
The Dashboard makes a limited assessment of the current web page based upon factors such as the use of 3rd party cookies, the use of P3P, etc.
The classification is as follows:
if (site uses persistent 3rd party cookies or 3rd party flash cookies)
classify as (unhappy face) "websites that enable third parties to track you across the web"
else if (site doesn't use P3P and has (lasting cookies or flash cookies or third party content))
classify as (thoughtful face) "websites which collect some information, but lack a machine readable privacy policy"
else
classify as (happy face) "websites that take good care of your privacy"
Disclaimer
you are advised to check the site's privacy policy yourself as the above checks can in no way be considered a definitive assessment of the site's handling of personal information.
Further information
We plan to add further information linked from the Dashboard about tab. In addition, you are welcome to email questions, bug reports and comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will do our best to help you (our ability to respond will depend on the volume of email traffic we receive). We are looking for volunteers to help with the maintenance and further evolution of the Dashboard beyond the end of the PrimeLife project.
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
