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How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

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Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#171

Post by jilop »

JimDabell wrote: post #108
robertAngst wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm not really sure how you can arrive at the conclusion that Apple are holding back; they seem clearly committed to improving privacy as demonstrated by their continuous work in the area. Given the Apple phone was successfully hacked in the FBI case, I'm not sure why HN seems to think they are the bastion of privacy. Given the other anti-consumer and anti-developer practices at Apple, I wouldn't trust them to prote…

I was responding to somebody who is under the impression that Apple are purposefully choosing not to protect user privacy. The most powerful government in the world hacking an Apple product in their possession without Apple's consent isn't relevant to that. If anything, the fact that Apple went to court to avoid being compelled to aid them in the endeavour supports what I am saying. I'm not saying that Apple products…

That is illogical. Declining to hand over unwarranted data to LEO is independent of using user data for commercial purposes. Google also has tight security and privacy from government intrusion

It's contradictory in fact, because data monetizing companies prefer to control data not leak it, to keep the data's price high.

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#172

Post by markovbot »

lazyjones wrote: post #169
nly wrote: post #8

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. Perhaps even going as far as not providing a shared filesystem. Well, that's a nice wish for Santa, but does anyone really expect such a policy from an advertising company like Google?

Not without public pressure. Commenting on it, reminding everyone that this is actually Google's fault in the first place, etc, is a good way to apply that pressure. Otherwise it's just on Facebook, and they do not give a fuck what people think of them.

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#173

Post by intrasight »

0xADEADBEE wrote: post #95
intrasight wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May as well just go buy physical newspapers and magazines then since few web sites today work without javascipt

I've been blocking JS for the last 6 months or so and I've found it to be a greatly improved experience overall. I can enable at the click of a button JS for a website that fails to load properly but the majority of sites I view are fine without this. It was refreshing to learn that not as many websites as I suspected are JS abominations!

I do have Firefox set to noscript. When things don't display, I copy the URL to Chrome where I don't have it so locked down. But I've been dismayed to see over the last year that a lot of sites that used to be usable no longer are.

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#174

Post by j1elo »

javajosh wrote: post #42
j1elo wrote: post #38

It's been years since I banned Facebook apps from my phone. m.facebook.com for the casual check, and mbasic.facebook.com for an admittely crippled but functional access to read the seldom chat message. I'm happy that Fb Messenger is the tool of choice for 0,0% of people around here...

If you watch the talk, that's not good enough. Any app you've installed that includes the FB SDK is leaking your data back to FB. And, according to the talk, that's a majority of popular apps.

I started but didn't have time to watch it all. But yes, I got to the idea you mention. A disgusting state of affairs...

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#175

Post by kllrnohj »

icelancer wrote: post #133
expertentipp wrote: post #96

I seriously loathe the people hating on the web. On the web one can preview, debug, and block stuff at each application and network layer. Use Lynx, disable JS, install ad and tracking blockers, edit hosts file - you are the king. Want to see the true evil? Native Android and iOS applications, there doesn’t exist an alternative platform anymore. You think that app is free? Not even web-style in-app advertisements giv…

It's pretty frustrating. The web is infinitely better than the app-based nonsense we have. Desktops are better than mobile devices by orders of magnitude when it comes to productive tasks. It'll shift back over time. Mobile is not going away but there will be a resurgence of desktop usage in the form of the mobile devices being hooked up to dumb terminals or something of the sort, and privacy/usability initiatives wi…

The web platform is complete garbage. It's extremely restrictive, outdated, and slow.

It has fantastic benefits, particularly in the brief usage long tail category, but it's not an app platform. Stop trying to use it as something it just isn't. There's plenty of room here for both native and web.

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#176

Post by kllrnohj »

scarface74 wrote: post #35
Daniel_sk wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are removing the ability to get any device identifiers in newer Android versions - unless you ask the user for a permission. https://developer.android.com/training/articles/user-data-id... There are advertising IDs and these can be reset. But I am not saying it's ideal in Android - up until recently you could easily fingerprint a device and you can do it today if you ask the users for permission (which the avera…

“asking users for permission” never works. You end up with Vista style UAC. What about not allowing it all? Even before iOS and Android were a thing, Windows Mobile had a way for apps to uniquely identify a device but that unique identifier was per app/per user.

You can't ask for permission for some of them anymore. MAC address queries just return a hardcoded 02:00:00:00:00:00, even if you have the appropriate premissions.

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#177

Post by kllrnohj »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #17
nly wrote: post #8

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.

They have increasingly revised or clamped down on the various unique IDs and are pushing everyone to the (user-resetable) advertising ID. Things like the MAC have already been hardcoded to a single fixed value for a couple of years now.

You're just spreading unsupported fud. Actions speak louder than words and Google's actions for Android apps and APIs do not agree with your comments.

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#178

Post by FiveSquared »

jilop wrote: post #171
JimDabell wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was responding to somebody who is under the impression that Apple are purposefully choosing not to protect user privacy. The most powerful government in the world hacking an Apple product in their possession without Apple's consent isn't relevant to that. If anything, the fact that Apple went to court to avoid being compelled to aid them in the endeavour supports what I am saying. I'm not saying that Apple products…

That is illogical. Declining to hand over unwarranted data to LEO is independent of using user data for commercial purposes. Google also has tight security and privacy from government intrusion It's contradictory in fact, because data monetizing companies prefer to control data not leak it, to keep the data's price high.

But you can still buy it and penetrate the severs and ISPs

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#179

Post by FiveSquared »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #136
ummonk wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>On the Android side, you can at least use free and auditable apps from the F-Droid repository, and buy your device from an OEM vendor which will let you unlock it and install google-free LineageOS. Do you go audit every line of source code in the apps and OS you install? Do you then verify that the binary blobs you're installing were built from the same source? Do you somehow audit the source for the firmware on you…

LineageOS allows fine grained permission revocation that cuts most of the bullshit.

Truth, LinageOS is Android that the way it’s meant to be!

Re: How Facebook tracks you on Android [video]

#180

Post by dirkgently »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #67
dirkgently wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are wording this in a way that it implies that this (block) happens by ios. That's not true and you know it.

Did you not see the follow-up sibling comment clarifying this? (That was posted 2 hours before yours)

Then edit your original comment, FFS.
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