The sound of online trackers

A core problem when explaining technology to normal people. How do you get across what can be a complex problem or issue easily and succinctly so folk can understand? It takes practice.

Explaining privacy, data trackers, data brokers, data flow, cookies, legislation etc could easily be boring (so very easy). Then I came across the link below.

The creepy sound of online trackers

I can’t get the noise out of my head. People who watch the video express awe and disgust. And that is why Dutch software developer Bert Hubert’s experiment is so powerful. It doesn’t really uncover something that we shouldn’t already know. Something we often choose to ignore. The brilliance is

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A software developer wrote a script so his computer would emit a beep every time it sent data to Google servers (first short video). Then he updated it to beep with the addition of Meta and a dozen other popular trackers (second short video) and visited some popular sites…just have a listen.

I have never come across a more impactful yet simple way of showing what happens when you go online. Very clever.

(Somebody should update it to the Pac-man sound though)