One morning after installing Lightbeam—a free Firefox add-on designed to help users visualize which companies are tracking them online—Mozilla’s Privacy and Public Policy Lead Alex Fowler went through his daily Internet routine. After visiting just four websites, the new feature revealed he had actually interacted with 120 different companies online.
Lightbeam, which Mozilla introduced over the weekend, offers several visual representations of how different websites and applications are following your online activity. You can see who’s tracking you at any moment with a graphic that re-imagines the Internet as swarm of apps chasing the user, as well as a Clock view displaying daily highlights and a detailed List view.
The new add-on is a successor to Collusion, which Mozilla introduced in 2011 and sat in an open browser window, tracking the cookies that track us across the Internet and showing users when they were being targeted. With Lightbeam, Mozilla, hopes to offer a more powerful and dynamic way to shine a light on a facet of life on the Web.
“It’s not necessarily good or bad,” says Fowler. “I think the bad that we’re focusing on is the lack of awareness, the lack of understanding.”
To start using Lightbeam, just download and install the plugin via the source link below and starting browsing. You’ll also have the option to share what you learn with a central database that hopes to map out a larger image of how the internet is connected. The new Mozilla add-on is available through Github as well for anyone interested in adding their own improvements to Lightbeam.

Disguise your little one with the help of a themed costume
From avocado halves to hoppy bunnies, costumes speak to every child's unique spirit. And we've collected our favorite options.

Add magic to your living space with these string lights
String lights add personality and soft light to your living space. Here are some of the best.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra's Space Zoom camera is amazing and a bit creepy
The Galaxy S20 Ultra supports up to 100X zoom, which Samsung calls Space Zoom, but is it any good? Can a phone really product usable photos at 100x zoom? We've got our Galaxy S20 Ultra already so join us to find out!

These can koozies will help your drink beat the heat
Koozies help keep your drinks cooler, longer. Whether you want to match your style, budget, or both, we've got you covered.