DoubleClick: The tracker that became a block target
DoubleClick is a Google-owned advertising domain that tracks users. Privacy tools block it to limit data collection.
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What is DoubleClick?
DoubleClick is a domain owned by Google, inherited from the acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. in 2008. Originally founded in 1995, DoubleClick was an online advertising company that created the DART system (Dynamic Advertising, Reporting, and Targeting), capable of serving targeted ads and measuring their performance across a network of websites. Today, the domain doubleclick.net is used by Google to serve ads and track browsing activity on millions of sites.
Who operates it and how does it collect data?
The doubleclick.net domain is operated by Google. When a site includes an ad served from this domain, the user’s browser makes a request to the DoubleClick server, which can set cookies to identify the browser. These cookies allow Google to track the user’s browsing history across different sites that use the same ad network. With this data, Google creates interest profiles for targeted advertising. Collected information includes pages visited, clicks, browsing time, and device type.
Privacy implications
The ability to track users across sites without explicit consent is a central privacy concern. Although Google claims to anonymize data, the combination of online information with offline data, as happened with the acquisition of Abacus Direct in 1999, sparked controversy and investigations by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In 2000, the FTC investigated DoubleClick for potential privacy violations when it planned to merge browsing data with personal catalog information. The company reached a settlement to adopt more transparent practices.
Why do privacy tools block DoubleClick?
Ad blockers and privacy extensions, such as uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger, block requests to doubleclick.net because it is a third-party tracking domain. Blocking prevents Google from collecting browsing data and serving targeted ads. However, it is important to understand the limitations of DNS-level blocking:
- It does not remove ads served from the same domain as the content (first-party).
- It does not hide the user’s IP address (the server still sees your IP if blocking is only at the DNS level).
- It may break site functionalities that depend on these scripts to load content or features.
Conclusion
DoubleClick is one of the largest trackers on the web, used by Google for behavioral advertising. Blocking it is an effective measure to reduce data collection, but it does not eliminate all forms of tracking. For those seeking greater privacy, the use of browsers with built-in protection (such as Firefox with Tracking Protection) or specific extensions is recommended. Although not a complete solution, blocking doubleclick.net is an important step.