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Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

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Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#151

Post by mikeash »

jimmaswell wrote: post #146
mikeash wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s incredibly disrespectful. Nobody wants some random ad listening to their microphone. That they’re trying it anyway indicates that they’re hoping to get some people with browsers that don’t block it, or trick some people into saying yes. It’s not harmful, as long as you’re not one of the people who gets tricked. But it does indicate that they want to do you harm, and try to. That they failed doesn’t make it all b…

It's probably just a mistake and not actually trying to collect anything.

You think it’s hitting the JavaScript microphone API by mistake? How?

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#152

Post by Scoundreller »

nerdponx wrote: post #124
minitoar wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the data in aggregate is worth more than people like you would pay for an ad-free service.

This is the actual problem at the heart of it all. And even if it were more profitable to take subscription fees than to serve ads, what's stopping you from "double dipping" and serving ads anyway?

Or taking your subscription money and tracking you anyway. Knowing your interests on one site helps target you elsewhere.

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#153

Post by progval »

jasonjayr wrote: post #133

Why can't Google come up with an AMP for ads? That will transpile a restricted javascript (or whatever) into a runtime that just doesn't do these things? This would get rid of the greasy ads, and Google could focus on making tools that allow site owners to filter by "features used in ad", and ad developers could actually return to delivering ads, rather than collecting fingerprints?

> That will transpile a restricted javascript (or whatever) into a runtime that just doesn't do these things?

They already invented that: https://github.com/google/caja

"Caja uses an object-capability security model to allow for a wide range of flexible security policies, so that your website can effectively control what embedded third party code can do with user data."

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#154

Post by inferiorhuman »

Nick-Craver wrote: post #68

I just wanted to chime in from Stack Overflow here and let people know: we are aware of the issue. And we're NOT okay with it. We're trying to sort out how to kill the audio behavior now. It's not very straightforward to find where it's coming from, but we are working on it. We've also reached out to Google for their assistance in tracking it down. If anyone can offer advice, we'll more than happily take it. - Nick C…

Nick, how did things go so wrong from three years ago?

e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20289841

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#155

Post by fimdomeio »

sergiotapia wrote: post #91

Is there something I can use to randomly fuzz every tab individually as I browse the web? They can track me through websites and I don't want that. Already using ublock origin.

Not exactly what you asked for but got this from mozilla today: https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/hey-advertisers-track-this/

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#156

Post by progval »

helloworm wrote: post #63

Has anyone made a plugin that does a DOS on each ad server(s) detected? Then, we have built-in DDOS on the ad servers, if enough users install it.

Not exactly a DoS, but there's a browser extension designed to click on all ads and blur the signal: Ad Nauseam

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#157

Post by outworlder »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #127
gdw2 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is firefox less fingerprintable?

Not at all. In many ways since firefox has such a smaller market share you are significantly easier to identify than average.

This makes little sense. If the data collection capabilities are more restricted, how would one be easier to identify? Firefox has a significant market share still.

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#158

Post by [deleted] »

jimmaswell wrote: post #146
mikeash wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s incredibly disrespectful. Nobody wants some random ad listening to their microphone. That they’re trying it anyway indicates that they’re hoping to get some people with browsers that don’t block it, or trick some people into saying yes. It’s not harmful, as long as you’re not one of the people who gets tricked. But it does indicate that they want to do you harm, and try to. That they failed doesn’t make it all b…

It's probably just a mistake and not actually trying to collect anything.

[deleted]

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#159

Post by lostmsu »

rsj_hn wrote: post #132
ndiscussion wrote: post #111

How We Make Money at Stack Overflow: 2016 Edition: Quality ads. "...we don’t want to use an automated system that selects some ads for us. We looked at this. It didn’t allow us the control we required to maintain the level of quality we want to maintain." How We Make Money at Stack Overflow: 2019 Edition: Taking money from Microsoft and Google fingerprinting our users 100+ ways source: https://stackoverflow.blog/2016…

Your options, as I see them. 1. Text based ads only (no third party js) 2. HTML based ads but no js (run it through DOMPurify https://github.com/cure53/DOMPurify ) 3. Look for a js sandbox -- this _will_ break arbitrary js, will not be supported in all browsers, and will require dev work on your side: * Google Caja https://github.com/google/caja * MentalJS https://github.com/hackvertor/MentalJS other options are avai…

> HTML based ads but no js (run it through DOMPurify https://github.com/cure53/DOMPurify)

Or use iframe.sandbox, which was designed for it. https://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_iframe_sandbox.asp

Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

#160

Post by craftinator »

keyle wrote: post #145
dabeeeenster wrote: post #76

"It's not very straightforward to find where it's coming from, but we are working on it." This encapsulates the entire problem with the current state of digital advertising in 1 simple sentence.

But you know, we wouldn't stop serving ads until we work it out... no no imagine the loss in revenues.

Let's be adults here. This is SO, and I imagine you've used and enjoyed the use of their services just like the rest of us. Support them by letting passive ads sit on the edges of the page, and appreciate that they are actually trying to solve this issue.
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