TL;DR
A PoPETS 2026 paper analyzes archived snapshots of government websites across 61 countries from 1996 to 2025 and reports that third‑party trackers became common, appearing on roughly half of studied sites by 2025. The increase is driven mainly by external services, concentrated among a few large US‑based organizations, with substantial regional variation.
What happened
Researchers conducted a large‑scale, longitudinal examination of tracking technologies on government websites using historical snapshots from the Internet Archive. The dataset covers 61 countries and spans nearly three decades (1996–2025). Over that period tracking shifted from being uncommon to routine: by 2025 third‑party trackers were present on about half of the government pages the authors studied. The rise in tracking activity is driven largely by external, third‑party services rather than first‑party implementations. The authors report concentration of tracking activity in a small number of large US‑based organizations alongside a long tail of smaller entities. Adoption levels vary widely by region, suggesting that citizens in different places face different exposures to privacy and security risks when using public online services. The paper concludes by noting a need for approaches to strengthen privacy and data sovereignty on public platforms.
Why it matters
- Third‑party tracking on government sites can expose citizens using essential public services to data collection practices that are outside governmental control.
- Concentration of trackers among a few large, foreign organizations raises questions about cross‑border data flows and data sovereignty for users of public services.
- Regional differences in tracker adoption mean unequal privacy and security risks for citizens depending on where they access government resources.
- The shift from rare to routine tracking on public sites suggests an urgency for policy, technical, and governance responses targeted at public‑sector platforms.
Key facts
- Paper title: The Empire Strikes Back (at Your Privacy): An Archaeology of Tracking on Government Websites.
- Authors: Sachin Kumar Singh, Faisal Mahmud, Robert Ricci, and Sandra Silby.
- Published in the Proceedings of the 26th Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PoPETS) 2026.
- Study scope: 61 countries and a timespan covering 1996–2025.
- Method: analysis of historical website snapshots provided by the Internet Archive.
- Finding: by 2025, third‑party trackers appear on approximately 50% of the studied government websites.
- Growth in tracking was driven overwhelmingly by external (third‑party) services rather than first‑party changes.
- Tracking activity is dominated by a few large US‑based organizations, with a long tail of smaller players.
- The study observes substantial heterogeneity in tracker adoption across regions.
- Authors highlight the need for measures to improve privacy protections and data sovereignty on public service platforms.
What to watch next
- Which specific third‑party companies are most prevalent on government sites and how their presence changes over time — not confirmed in the source.
- Whether national or regional policy responses emerge to limit third‑party tracking on public websites — not confirmed in the source.
- Adoption of privacy‑preserving technical alternatives by government web platforms (e.g., self‑hosted analytics) — not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- Third‑party tracker: A technology embedded on a website that is served by a domain different from the site visited, typically used to collect data about visitors across sites.
- Longitudinal study: An analysis that observes the same subjects or phenomena over an extended period to measure changes and trends.
- Internet Archive snapshots: Archived copies of web pages collected over time by the Internet Archive, commonly used for historical web research.
- Data sovereignty: The concept that data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the country where it is collected or stored.
Reader FAQ
What did the researchers examine?
They analyzed historical snapshots of government websites to measure the presence and evolution of third‑party tracking from 1996 to 2025.
How many countries and what time period did the study cover?
The study covers 61 countries and spans nearly three decades, from 1996 through 2025.
Which companies are responsible for the most tracking on government sites?
The paper states tracking is concentrated among a few large US‑based organizations, but specific company names are not confirmed in the source.
Does the paper offer fixes or policy recommendations?
The authors highlight the need for approaches to improve privacy and data sovereignty on public platforms; specific recommendations are not confirmed in the source.
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Sources
- An Archaeology of Tracking on Government Websites
- Temporally Extending Existing Web Archive Collections for …
- (PDF) Temporally Extending Existing Web Archive …
- The Trump administrations on open access to research
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