21–30 of 213 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Kindle app on iOS gets blocked attempting to connect to Facebook every time I open it.
Blocked by what?
When the app attempts to connect to graph.facebook.com it gets NXDOMAIN.
We're spoiled in the desktop browser by being able to clear history, cookies, local storage etc, or use a private browser session. There's also the importance of the "same origin policy". The Android platform API should simply never allow apps to obtain global system identifiers (serial numbers, "advertising IDs", MACs, Wifi network info, EMEIs etc) in the first place. Perhaps even going as far as not providing a sha…
> The Android platform API should simply never allow apps to obtain global system identifiers (serial numbers, "advertising IDs", MACs, Wifi network info, EMEIs etc) in the first place. Of course. On the other hand, Google's global attitude is that user tracking is fine, their core business is based on that. So it would be hypocritical on their part if they decided to block user tracking on their devices.
We're spoiled in the desktop browser by being able to clear history, cookies, local storage etc, or use a private browser session. There's also the importance of the "same origin policy". The Android platform API should simply never allow apps to obtain global system identifiers (serial numbers, "advertising IDs", MACs, Wifi network info, EMEIs etc) in the first place. Perhaps even going as far as not providing a sha…
While you make good points about mobile apps, don't be too spoiled by the privacy offered by destop browsers. Because of their configuration and various APIs, they're almost as easy to fingerprint as mobile devices with advertising IDs. EFF has had a proof of concept online for quite a while https://panopticlick.eff.org/ And HN users are probably even more vulnerable since we will have customized our software making…
I'm sure there's a Google rep somewhere that will tell you that their "advertising ID" is better than the status quo on the web because the user can rotate it and, because it's reliable and easy for app devs to use, they are discouraged from being more nefarious and sneaky in tracking users.
This is all a bloody distraction from the point: it should not be an acceptable norm for this tracking to happen and it should be as hard as possible to pull off without informed user consent.
The degree to which platforms are defensive against it is a different issue to whether or not they actively encourage it by design... which shouldn't even be open to debate.
We're spoiled in the desktop browser by being able to clear history, cookies, local storage etc, or use a private browser session. There's also the importance of the "same origin policy". The Android platform API should simply never allow apps to obtain global system identifiers (serial numbers, "advertising IDs", MACs, Wifi network info, EMEIs etc) in the first place. Perhaps even going as far as not providing a sha…
While you make good points about mobile apps, don't be too spoiled by the privacy offered by destop browsers. Because of their configuration and various APIs, they're almost as easy to fingerprint as mobile devices with advertising IDs. EFF has had a proof of concept online for quite a while https://panopticlick.eff.org/ And HN users are probably even more vulnerable since we will have customized our software making…
I'm using a VPN + ublock origin + https everywhere + temporary containers + don't track me google + chameleon + canvas blocker + custom user.js (that disables e.g. webgl).
It's pretty good to address many tracking methods (e.g. cookies, IP) but fingerprinting is remarkably hard to prevent.
I get "0" Ads on my Android, also I'm a bit paranoid, I block every suspicious domain, only allowing Mobile/WiFi access to trusted apps.
Sadly this behaviour is easy to fingerprint.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While you make good points about mobile apps, don't be too spoiled by the privacy offered by destop browsers. Because of their configuration and various APIs, they're almost as easy to fingerprint as mobile devices with advertising IDs. EFF has had a proof of concept online for quite a while https://panopticlick.eff.org/ And HN users are probably even more vulnerable since we will have customized our software making…
Do you have a recommended setup to tackle fingerprinting? I'm using a VPN + ublock origin + https everywhere + temporary containers + don't track me google + chameleon + canvas blocker + custom user.js (that disables e.g. webgl). It's pretty good to address many tracking methods (e.g. cookies, IP) but fingerprinting is remarkably hard to prevent.
However, it comes with a fairly long list of downsides: less secure than Chrome, less secure than even Firefox it's based on because it's not updated as often and quickly, and you MITM yourself by default, and it's slow, it doesn't block ads... The price to pay is steep.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While you make good points about mobile apps, don't be too spoiled by the privacy offered by destop browsers. Because of their configuration and various APIs, they're almost as easy to fingerprint as mobile devices with advertising IDs. EFF has had a proof of concept online for quite a while https://panopticlick.eff.org/ And HN users are probably even more vulnerable since we will have customized our software making…
I know you're not disagreeing with me, but the issue you raise only distracts and lends ammo to the defenders of these prolific tracking mechanisms. It's the Nirvana fallacy. I'm sure there's a Google rep somewhere that will tell you that their "advertising ID" is better than the status quo on the web because the user can rotate it and, because it's reliable and easy for app devs to use, they are discouraged from bei…
Our world is starting to looka lot like that of the Space Merchants..