Google’s new tracking system bypasses VPN and Tor

Google has drawn attention from regulators and privacy advocates with a new user tracking method. Instead of traditional cookies, the company has switched to digital fingerprinting, making online anonymity practically impossible.

Digital fingerprinting allows advertisers and data brokers to collect information about users based on their internet activities, spanning across different browsers, sessions, and devices. Even VPNs, Tor, and private browsers won’t help maintain privacy, experts warn.

Previously, Google used cookies that could be blocked using special extensions, incognito mode, or cache clearing. The new method is significantly harder to circumvent: user data is formed based on device parameters, IP addresses, installed fonts, and other factors.

Google’s innovation has prompted sharp reactions from regulatory bodies, especially in Europe, where data protection is strictly controlled. A UK ICO representative called digital fingerprinting an “irresponsible” measure and warned that advertisers would need to prove compliance with strict laws.

Notably, in 2019, Google itself criticized such technology, calling it unfair to users. Now the company explains the transition as “evolving privacy protection technologies,” including on-device data processing and secure computing. However, experts believe the reason is simple commercial benefit.

Digital fingerprinting allows combining data from various devices and services, creating accurate user profiles. This benefits not only advertisers but also government structures that can track journalists, activists, and others interested in anonymity.

Industry experts believe that Google has effectively opened Pandora’s box. Now other companies will begin actively using the technology, intensifying user surveillance, and this will become the new norm. Additionally, it’s noted that the volume of collected data will significantly increase.

Google justifies its move by citing the growth of advertising platforms such as Connected TV (CTV) and claims that the company’s technologies help advertisers maintain a balance between targeting and privacy. However, critics note that the company’s main motive is not user safety but profit.

Have you heard anything about WebAssembly (Wasm)?

WebAssembly (Wasm) allows running code written in various programming languages (C, C++, Rust, and others) in the browser with near-native performance. In 2025, we expect Wasm to become even more widespread across several areas. For example, for developing high-performance web applications: Especially in areas such as online games, graphic editors, and scientific computing. The technology can also be used to port existing applications to a web foundation: without the need to rewrite them from scratch in JavaScript. Additionally, web application security will improve: thanks to strict isolation of Wasm code from the rest of the browser. Conclusion: Wasm is definitely a trend for 2025 that you should pay attention to!

AI technologies for media sites help Wanted and our clients develop projects.

The use of AI in content formatting and writing increases the efficiency of our work on internal and client projects by at least 2 times – these aren’t empty words, but statistical data – advertising revenue grew by 40% with this increase in efficiency. The technological basis for this solution was developed by the team in just 1 month of work and is already being tested on a dozen different projects. Want your projects to always receive care from an IT partner at the level of market leaders? Contact us!

The new version of WordPress supports AVIF

Starting with WordPress 6.5, support for AVIF has been added – a modern image format that offers significant improvements in quality and compression compared to previous formats such as JPEG, PNG, and even WebP. AVIF images can be up to 50% smaller than JPEG while maintaining the same quality. AVIF images also support a wide color range (including HDR) and provide sharper images than JPEG, especially in areas with high detail. Therefore, switching to AVIF format for your images will likely improve your site’s performance and visitor experience. And do modern browsers support it? Yes, almost all of them.

UX research: what can we learn from Lt. Columbo?

A beautiful text about how the work of Hollywood’s greatest detective is similar to the work of a UX designer. It’s been a long time since an ordinary article on the Internet has brought us so much pleasure. Well, for those who haven’t watched the series, run to fix that tonight!

Thinking like an agency: the key to success in web development

Web development is not only about technical skills, but also about the ability to think broadly, considering business goals and client needs. At our agency, we emphasize this aspect, striving to bring every developer to this level of thinking.

The rather famous book “The Clean Coder” by Robert Martin (Uncle Bob) emphasizes that developers should be professionals, like lawyers or accountants. This means that we should not only write code, but also take responsibility for decisions that can have a significant financial impact on the business. This thought was once the basis for the development of a particular concept within our agency. We actively communicate our “ideology” to every new employee, helping them become not just good, but great developers.

Often developers focus on new technologies, libraries, code testing platforms, etc. This is certainly important and is ‘fresh blood’ for the company, however we also need to think commercially and on behalf of the business and clients we work for. This is a skill that many developers lack, but one that can elevate anyone from being a good developer to being a great one.

It’s important to remember that all websites eventually become obsolete, and sometimes it’s more cost-effective to scrap what you already have and start from scratch. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel when time-tested solutions already exist. Take advantage of the platforms and libraries that already exist.

In conclusion, it’s important to emphasize that developers should evolve with the industry. It’s not just about technical skills, but also the commercial mindset that will help us offer the best value to our team and our clients. At our agency, we strive to ensure that every developer thinks like an agency, and that makes us a better agency.

Regular update of WordPress plugins: protection from vulnerabilities

In the world of web development, especially when working with a popular CMS like WordPress, the importance of timely updating plugins to the latest version cannot be overemphasized. Two recent cases involving the MonsterInsights and WPCode plugins underscore this importance.

MonsterInsights, a Google Analytics plugin for WordPress installed on over 3 million sites, was found to have an XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) vulnerability. This vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that could lead to the theft of user data or complete site takeover. This vulnerability has been fixed in version 8.14.1.

The second case concerns the WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers plugin installed on more than a million websites. It contained a CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) vulnerability that allows attackers to delete files on the server. This vulnerability was fixed in version 2.0.9.

Both of these cases emphasize the importance of timely plugin updates. Vulnerabilities can lead to serious consequences, including data loss, site disruption, and even complete takeover. Updating plugins to the latest version is one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect your site from such threats.

At our agency, we always emphasize the importance of this aspect of security and encourage our clients to regularly check and update their plugins, and in specific cases, we set up within CI/CD Flow to automate this process. This not only helps to ensure the security and stability of the site, but also provides access to new features and improvements that are often included in updates.

Why It’s Important to Write a Custom MU Plugin for WordPress

WordPress is a powerful platform that offers countless plugins to extend the functionality of your website. However, sometimes the most effective solution may be to write your own Must-Use (MU) plugin. Why?

1. Uniqueness and Customization: Open source or paid plugins are usually created with the maximum number of user needs in mind. This may mean you may have to deal with unnecessary functionality that slows down your site, or a lack of functionality that is important to you. Writing a custom plugin allows you to create exactly what your business needs.
2. Avoiding Conflicts: Off-the-shelf plugins can conflict with each other, causing performance and security issues. Creating a custom plugin helps minimize the risk of conflicts.
3. Cost and Speed: Quality off-the-shelf plugins often cost money, and their cost can increase over time. In addition, annual subscriptions can be a significant expense. While the cost of developing your own plugin may be higher in the short term, it may prove more cost-effective in the long run.
4. Scalability: With off-the-shelf plugins, it’s difficult to scale or add new functionality. A proprietary plugin allows you to control every aspect and easily implement updates as your business grows.

Creating your own MU plugin for WordPress can be a daunting task, but it’s an investment that can significantly improve your site’s performance and give you the flexibility you need to expand functionality in the future.

How does the page speed affect the site’s sales? Check your project!

Google Pagespeed or Google Lighthouse are technical indicators, and even if you are close to the” green zone”, everyone is interested in the question: is it worth pulling up the download speed of the effort and costs that need to be invested?

In 2018, Google presented several tools that help calculate the possible correlation of revenue with the website loading speed. In particular, these are Speed Scoreboard and Impact Calculator. Recently, they have been combined into a single product.

In fact, the calculations of Impact Calculator can be replicated in a regular Excel or Google Spreadsheet file, but it is much more convenient to use additional hints on the Google pages. All data you need is the website’s page speed, average monthly traffic, conversion rate, and your average receipt.

Based on this data, the system will provide the result of possible losses if the site speed leaves much to be desired. It is important to understand that we are not talking about the ranking of the site as such, but about the relationship between conversions and page loading speed.

On the same page, you will find the Benchmark industry leaders indicators, which makes it possible to compare your website with competitors ‘ sites (by a specific page and the quality of communication – 3G/4G).

Perhaps, for someone, it will be more obvious through visualization of the correlation between income and site loading speed among the leaders of the American market.