Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

github.com

131–140 of 147 posts

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#131
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, essentially a super cookie? That is, generated once (at random or arbitrarily) and then included with proof of work? You're just describing a regular cookie. >But not a fingerprint or otherwise linked to identity? You'll have to reverse-engineer the app to figure out whether it's actually fingerprinting, and whether it's fingerprinting to make sure it's a real device (vs emulator) or it's fingerprinting to uniqu…

> You're just describing a regular cookie. Yes regular cookie from Google's perspective, but super in that it works across sites. If for some reason you don't just take Google's word you might suspect they collude and share / sell your identity to the site as well... > The attestation result contains a count of attested keys generated in the past 30 days, which detects this case without a "supercookie" that persists…

>Yes regular cookie from Google's perspective, but super in that it works across sites. If for some reason you don't just take Google's word you might suspect they collude and share / sell your identity to the site as well...

That's just third party cookies.

>Why wouldn't I be able to reset and re-enroll in the app and then have it generate me a fresh new cookie attestation history?

You can get a new uuid, but then that'll be associated with a key that has a high attestation count, which is also suspicious. It's like detecting spam from an account that has 1000 posts in 1 hr vs an ip that created 1000 accounts in one hr making one post each. Both are suspicious.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#132

> 4. Solves CAPTCHAs via CapSolver (AI-powered, ~$0.001/solve) Right, so my suspicion was correct: I'm the only one being inconvenienced by the same old captchas.

Makes it tempting to buy paid captcha solving just to enjoy life more

Google has a new captcha coming down the line that requires a phone connection and scanning of a QR code.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird how with these kinds of discussions new accounts always show up with a wealth of information. Very astroturfed topic readers beware

Yes, I'm clearly on the payroll of... um... big optout?

All of the quack around identity removal is essentially null and void in the United States. Companies have literally zero legal obligation to nuke your personal data and they will happily keep whatever you provide to them on file.

Until there is serious legislation like GDRP and right to be forgotten in the United States it's a non-starter

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#134
post #69

Nothing they do actually improves society so in a healthy society we would be able to outlaw what they do. But we don't. So we can't.

You can definitely outlaw this. Under GDPR it’s much harder to lawfully collect and sell personal data large scale. Not saying it doesnt happen still but it gives you a legal basis to fight against it — noyb.eu / Max Schremscand others do some excellent important work on that front

768 legitimate interested sites liked that comment and stored cookies for the next 390d.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#135
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're just describing a regular cookie. Yes regular cookie from Google's perspective, but super in that it works across sites. If for some reason you don't just take Google's word you might suspect they collude and share / sell your identity to the site as well... > The attestation result contains a count of attested keys generated in the past 30 days, which detects this case without a "supercookie" that persists…

>Yes regular cookie from Google's perspective, but super in that it works across sites. If for some reason you don't just take Google's word you might suspect they collude and share / sell your identity to the site as well... That's just third party cookies. >Why wouldn't I be able to reset and re-enroll in the app and then have it generate me a fresh new cookie attestation history? You can get a new uuid, but then t…

I still don't get how those 1000 posts tallied with previous UUID would get correlated with the new UUID. If it's only source IP address or similar finger prints, those are relatively easy to get rid off, hide, renew.

(At least, when your goal is to do as many fake attestations as possible rather than use your device for something more useful)

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#136
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes regular cookie from Google's perspective, but super in that it works across sites. If for some reason you don't just take Google's word you might suspect they collude and share / sell your identity to the site as well... That's just third party cookies. >Why wouldn't I be able to reset and re-enroll in the app and then have it generate me a fresh new cookie attestation history? You can get a new uuid, but then t…

I still don't get how those 1000 posts tallied with previous UUID would get correlated with the new UUID. If it's only source IP address or similar finger prints, those are relatively easy to get rid off, hide, renew. (At least, when your goal is to do as many fake attestations as possible rather than use your device for something more useful)

>I still don't get how those 1000 posts tallied with previous UUID would get correlated with the new UUID.

The point is that you can flag accounts/uuids based on monthly attestation count alone, without correlating all the posts to a given account/uuid.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#137
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don't get how those 1000 posts tallied with previous UUID would get correlated with the new UUID. If it's only source IP address or similar finger prints, those are relatively easy to get rid off, hide, renew. (At least, when your goal is to do as many fake attestations as possible rather than use your device for something more useful)

>I still don't get how those 1000 posts tallied with previous UUID would get correlated with the new UUID. The point is that you can flag accounts/uuids based on monthly attestation count alone, without correlating all the posts to a given account/uuid.

Yes, but isn't there an unplugged hole in the account creation (or fresh install) if that gets you a new UUID with 0 monthly attestation count?

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#138
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I still don't get how those 1000 posts tallied with previous UUID would get correlated with the new UUID. The point is that you can flag accounts/uuids based on monthly attestation count alone, without correlating all the posts to a given account/uuid.

Yes, but isn't there an unplugged hole in the account creation (or fresh install) if that gets you a new UUID with 0 monthly attestation count?

You buy a new phone, install the app, and get an uuid with 0 attestation count. Now what? If you try to use that uuid to farm attestations, it'll be easily linked to that uuid. If you try to uninstall/reinstall, the attestation count will count up, eventually making making the newly created uuids immediately suspicious. You might try to create one uuid per month and then try to farm those indefinitely, but they could require you to reattest every month, which should come back with 0-1 attestations, but if you were farming uuids that'll be immediately caught.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can definitely outlaw this. Under GDPR it’s much harder to lawfully collect and sell personal data large scale. Not saying it doesnt happen still but it gives you a legal basis to fight against it — noyb.eu / Max Schremscand others do some excellent important work on that front

768 legitimate interested sites liked that comment and stored cookies for the next 390d.

Your point being?

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As funny as these stories are it makes my environmentalist blood boil. Such ridiculous waste at scale for a product barely anyone actually wants.

Pre-internet the commercial phone book was actually fairly useful. The "problem" was that most people didn't need it updating as often as the phone book company would have liked.

I well stocked research library had phone books from all over.
Post reply on HN