Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

apnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 99 posts

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#31

Post by sirn »

saagarjha wrote: post #27
sirn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome and other Google softwares, by default will install a system-wide auto updater (Google Keystone[1]) set to run every 5 hours. The Keystone Agent cannot easily be removed, and will reinstall itself on every updates. There has also been an exploit[2] of this auto updater service. If what you need is Chrome developer's tools, installing Chromium (or building your own, for the paranoid) seems like a much better ch…

What happens if you chmod the plist for the launch agent to 000?

I have never tried, but presumably launchd won't run the Keystone agent (although using defaults command can archive the same, if we were to just disable it from running).

The issue is when we want to keep Chrome and maybe other Google apps installed, while _not_ have Keystone, and not letting any Google software reinstall Keystone. In that case, it involve uninstalling Keystone agent, creating GoogleSoftwareUpdate directory then chmod that directory to 000 both in ~/Library/Google and /Library/Google

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#33

Post by satori99 »

saagarjha wrote: post #28
mrkstu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome sends all the text entered into your 'omnibus' back to HQ. Adblocker isn't going to help in Google wants to track you, and it does.

Wouldn't any browser do this, to offer you search suggestions?

Instead of cramming all functionality into one textbox, Firefox gives you the option of having a separate address and search text fields.

It can set so that the address box only searches local tabs, history and bookmarks for suggestions, while the search box hits up google or wherever.

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#34

Post by blibble »

yalogin wrote: post #17
curiousgal wrote: post #4

Why should anyone with an adblocker installed care about tracking? I mean isn't the end goal to just serve personalized ads?

Here are a few reasons. 1. Ad blockers have a performance impact. 2. As blockers don’t have the number of uses that the browsers have, so I have seen websites routinely request to turn them off. However if the protection is built into the browser sites cannot ask users to switch to a different browser, they have to figure something out or suck in less data. 3. It’s also a vote against Chrome and Facebook telling them…

> Ad blockers have a performance impact.

compared to the performance impact of loading ads?

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#35

Post by gxs »

saagarjha wrote: post #25
vinayms wrote: post #24

The biggest draw to Chrome is the dev tools. The debugger especially is on par with Visual Studio, may be better, and smooth (too smooth actually, especially the scrolling) whereas Firefox chokes 90% of the time as if it were created by novices. For instance, the break point never works, and if it does, the variable values are undefined. I am using v60 but this has been happening for many versions now. I have never f…

> Firefox chokes 90% of the time as if it were created by novices Hey now, don't be mean… > As for the topic, I am not sure how much of this is out of genuine concern for the users and how much is opportunistic jabs at the competitor's revenue. I wouldn't call it a jab at competitor's revenue, but it does make good business sense to extol privacy as a "feature" of your products.

We as a crowd, as technical peeps, are really hard to please.

You simply can't get it right. Track your users to oblivion? Evil, shady company.

Start integrating features in your products to limit invasive tracking..it's not genuine, it's a ploy to screw other companies' revenue.

I like the skepticism, but taking a step back to reflect on this nowandthen is good IMO.

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#36

Post by bogomipz »

Chabs wrote: post #14
s_dev wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably part of the reason why they built and maintain Chrome. Firefox will always have a dedicated user base -- if Google want to be the default search engine on that browser they will have to pay for it otherwise services like Bing will occupy that space.

OP's point is the other way around. They are wondering if Mozilla can afford the financial hit of not getting that money from Google anymore. If Google leaves that space, then Bing won't have real competition here, and will pay substantially less.

Yeah this was my question. It seem like a slippery slope for Mozilla since their patronage comes form one of the biggest sources of the behavior they are endeavoring to guard against with these features.

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#37

Post by bogomipz »

jamespo wrote: post #32

When I'm logged into google I get aggressive recaptchas on other sites I can't solve, so I've moved to the google container plugin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-contai...

Interesting, I would have thought there would be less. Any guesses as to why that is?

My perception is I encounter them more frequently when browsing a VPN. I would be curious if anyone else has experienced similar.

I think the pervasiveness of the Google recaptcha is one of the biggest scourges of the modern web. I understand the importance of utility of course.

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#38

Post by brookhaven_dude »

vinayms wrote: post #24

The biggest draw to Chrome is the dev tools. The debugger especially is on par with Visual Studio, may be better, and smooth (too smooth actually, especially the scrolling) whereas Firefox chokes 90% of the time as if it were created by novices. For instance, the break point never works, and if it does, the variable values are undefined. I am using v60 but this has been happening for many versions now. I have never f…

> I am not sure how much of this is out of genuine concern for the users...

Does it matter as long as it benefits the user?

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#39

Post by saagarjha »

sirn wrote: post #31
saagarjha wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens if you chmod the plist for the launch agent to 000?

I have never tried, but presumably launchd won't run the Keystone agent (although using defaults command can archive the same, if we were to just disable it from running). The issue is when we want to keep Chrome and maybe other Google apps installed, while _not_ have Keystone, and not letting any Google software reinstall Keystone. In that case, it involve uninstalling Keystone agent, creating GoogleSoftwareUpdate d…

Is there a component to Keystone I'm missing aside from the agent? Because if launchd can't run it, presumably Keystone wouldn't work.

Re: Apple, Firefox tools aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

#40

Post by fauigerzigerk »

yalogin wrote: post #17
curiousgal wrote: post #4

Why should anyone with an adblocker installed care about tracking? I mean isn't the end goal to just serve personalized ads?

Here are a few reasons. 1. Ad blockers have a performance impact. 2. As blockers don’t have the number of uses that the browsers have, so I have seen websites routinely request to turn them off. However if the protection is built into the browser sites cannot ask users to switch to a different browser, they have to figure something out or suck in less data. 3. It’s also a vote against Chrome and Facebook telling them…

And you'd have to trust the ad-blocker in addition to trusting the browser maker.
Post reply on HN