Councils letting third parties track visits to webpages

A new investigation has found that councils are sharing information about users of their websites with dozens of private companies.

More than 400 local authorities allowed at least one third-party company to track individuals who visit their sites, including sensitive sections of their sites, such as when they seek help with a benefit claim, or with a disability or alcoholism.

Critics have argued that council websites serve a public purpose and should not let outside firms monitor their users’ activity, especially given the sensitive nature of some visits.

Anonymous web browser Brave used open-source tools to see what companies were present on certain webpages. They found 409 council websites in the UK allowed private companies to receive data about their visitors.

Event Diary

DISCOVER | DEVELOP | DISRUPT

UKREiiF has quickly become a must-attend in the industry calendar for Government departments and local authorities.

The organisers of the world’s largest dedicated hydrogen event, World Hydrogen 2024 Summit & Exhibition have announced it’s return to Rotterdam in May 2024, with an expansion of a whole extra summit day. Sustainable Energy Council (SEC) are partnering with the Government of the Netherlands, the Province of Zuid-Holland, the City of Rotterdam, and the Port of Rotterdam to host an extended, larger scale Summit in 2024, to expand the event to meet the surging demand.