Data tracking

The major international scientific publishers are increasingly being criticised for tracking on their websites. They are accused of collecting and monetising personal data about scientists and their activities online. However, publishers are no exception here, as many other content providers also aggregate data about visitors to their websites using various tracking methods. Electronic media such as journals and databases offered by the University Library are no exception. The collection of data by providers cannot be prevented from the outset by the library and the university computer centre itself on the JLU network. To do this, settings must be made on personal devices.

By rejecting technically unnecessary cookies and optimising the privacy settings of the browser used, good basic protection can be achieved with little effort. Even more sophisticated defence mechanisms are offered by privacy browser extensions or browsers specially optimised for data protection. Tor networks or VPN services can be used to anonymise your own IP address, although some of these are subject to a charge. The proxification service EZ-Proxy offers a similar solution for accessing the University Library's electronic media. The advantage is that online content is not accessed with a personal IP address, but with a University Library IP address.