Big Tech Detective

As you browse the internet, Big Tech Detective will identify and measure connections to internet protocol (IP) addresses owned by Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, revealing which websites exchange data with them. When a webpage exchanges data with any of these four companies, an overlay will alert you. Even if you don't block traffic to these companies, the extension counts connections and displays the percentage of websites with connections to each company in the 'Website View' of the traffic analyzer graph. Switch to 'Packet View' to see a breakdown of data volume sent to each company. To inspect IP addresses on each webpage, toggle the lock switch for a company and click 'Copy Data to Clipboard' to pull back the curtain further. Think of this tool as X-ray vision for websites, revealing their inner workings. While you might be used to seeing ads in sidebars, this tool shows Big Tech's role in delivering them. It may also reveal their role in hosting your favorite sites. Big Tech Detective tracks our best guess of what's controlled by these companies based on domain ownership. You can stop tracking by closing the app popup. To identify, label, and count connections, the app tracks requested URLs, company ownership, and packet counts. All data is stored locally and contains no identifying information beyond packet counts sent to tech giants by your browser.

Big Tech Detective is a Chrome browser extension designed to track and prevent data exchanges with tech giants by identifying and measuring connections to IP addresses owned by Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft while users browse the internet. It helps users understand the flow of data between websites and major tech companies, revealing their roles in ad delivery and website hosting.