Google and other leading advertising companies were circumventing the privacy Settings of millions of unsuspecting users Safari, reports the Wall Street Journal . With "a special code," the company could get around the browser privacy restrictions, and install cookies on a user's computer, even if such actions were actually to be locked. Companies such as Google use cookies placed browsing habits on websites that display in the track. Apple's Safari web browser blocks these third-party cookies by default, so it only on a website, a user interacts with directly. Read on for more.

detected magazine research that this was "special code" in 22 of the top 100 websites while surfing from a computer, and 23 sites when using the iPhone browser. The publication notes that "once the coding has been activated could enable tracking of Google, the vast majority of Web sites."

Mountain View-based company has maintained his innocence, claiming its advertising cookies do not collect personal information. "The Journal mischaracterizes what happened and why. We used well-known safari functionality to features had signed in Google users are enabled. It is important to emphasize that these advertising cookies do not collect any personal data," said a Google representative.

Vibrant Media, Media Innovation Group and PointRoll all used a similar code for tracking. Out of all the companies, Google has the largest market share and deliver Internet ads that were viewed at least once by 93% of all U.S. Internet users in December. Apple-stretched out his hand to The Journal , and informed the publication that "working to put a stop to" the company to bypass code that Safari's privacy settings.