Memo : Cookies, trackers & targeted ads

The basics: what a cookie actually is, the difference between useful and tracking, and how to read a consent banner without getting played.

Beyond cookies: spy pixels in emails, trackers in links, social buttons, browser fingerprinting, the thousand ways of being followed.

How an ad "finds" you, what the platform has inferred about you, and why scammers love targeted advertising.

The settings that actually matter: browser, automated refusal, unsubscribing, and the fake "protection" tools to avoid.

Behind the ads, a market: data brokers, fragile "anonymisation", data-vacuum quizzes, and the direct link between leaks and targeted scams.