Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID • Hacker News Board

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#81

Post by winternett » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

TheRealPomax wrote: post #9

So, an extremely unique identifier for tracking purposes, that effectively no one knows exists, and no one knows can be changed at all? With an obscure white paper that allows Google to claim they comply with the law because "they totally offer a way to change that and they even published that information to the web for anyone to find"? Gotcha.

Don't be evil...

Until we are deployed enough that users don't have a choice...

Now that Google has cornered the market for Internet browsing, they're using that foothold to change how it works to suit their dominance. This is why they are not concerned about per-site tracking that Google Analytics does, as long as THEY as a company have direct browser-based tracking, they no longer need to provide tracking services to other private companies to know what is trending everywhere. This is also probably why they're trying to kill ad blockers and certain browser privacy extensions.... But they won't really matter to Google if everything is done at the browser level to begin with from now on. :/

If they make moves to scale back [free] Google Analytics, which they probably will at some point, it will only highlight this ideal... They may turn to selling their privately collected metrics and qualitative studies to companies after Google Analytics is rendered useless, and then that's unadulterated monopolistic profit for them and shareholders...

Diabolical.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#82

Post by carlsborg » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:32 PM UTC

If you strace chrome on linux it also picks up /etc/machine-id (or it did back when I looked), which is a 32 byte randomly generated string which uniquely identifies you and on some systems is used as the DHCP ID across reboots.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#83

Post by tapoxi » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:32 PM UTC

DangerousPie wrote: post #15

If you haven't used Firefox in a while you should really give it another chance. It has vastly improved in terms of CPU and battery usage. It also has a lot of great privacy-enhancing features like tracking protection enabled by default and extensions like Facebook Container make it trivial to prevent tracking even further.

Or just use Ungoogled Chromium, and get the performance advantage of Chrome without the tracking.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#84

Post by maeln » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:32 PM UTC

throwawa66 wrote: post #40

dgudkov wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla Corporation which makes the browser doesn't accept donations.

Do you know why that is?

Mozilla Corporation is a for-profit company. Depending on the legislation it is sometimes forbidden to take donation, or at least very difficult/limited for company.

Mozilla Foundation is the non-profit organization (and they do take donation).

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#85

Post by falcolas » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

fortran77 wrote: post #60

marriedWpt wrote: post #38

Ahh the good ol HN "stop using Google and start using Firefox" advertisement. It's a bit odd to see this in every Google thread. Btw, Firefox is too slow.

It's not odd at all. It's what the folks at Mozilla do. They jump in to every thread to push Firefox and Rust and make people think it's more widely used/better than it is.

Not everything is a conspiracy. I'm not a Mozilla employee, have never been one (probably never will be one). Firefox is awesome, fast, and extensible. It's my daily driver for all of my machines.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#86

Post by Spooks » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #58

kick wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox should definitely be used, but donating to Mozilla is a mistake. They waste a lot of it, their executive compensation rates are way too high (especially given that MoCo just laid off employees), and Mozilla still hasn't kept up with promises they gave years ago (that Pocket is still proprietary being a notable and depressing example). Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'll go a lot further, a…

> their executive compensation rates are way too high Just because they're a non-profit doesn't mean execs should be paid far below market rates.

I agree, I never understood that argument. We have a fairly large and wonderful kids hospital that looks for donations and some of my friends said they wouldn't donate because their CEO makes 500k and he should donate his money instead.

I had to explain you want to recruit great talent, and that 500k is less than he could make some place else.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#87

Post by throwawa66 » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

deeblering4 wrote: post #53

I see people recommending Firefox, but I'll say that for mac users Safari is a very usable browser too. It's quite fast, and to my knowledge is not collecting/sharing my personal data with apple. https://www.apple.com/privacy/ These days I only use chrome for the g-suite tools that seem to require it to avoid mid-meeting crashes.

Safari as well. Almost anything but Chrome. Both Safari and FF are good. Im only using these 2 myself

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#88

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

kevlarr wrote: post #64

kick wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox should definitely be used, but donating to Mozilla is a mistake. They waste a lot of it, their executive compensation rates are way too high (especially given that MoCo just laid off employees), and Mozilla still hasn't kept up with promises they gave years ago (that Pocket is still proprietary being a notable and depressing example). Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'll go a lot further, a…

Donations go to Mozilla "the non-profit organization" rather than Mozilla "the corporation". Mozilla (the corporation) has the typical/bad corporate structures and ridiculous executive compensations. Mozilla (the corporation) had the layoffs. Mozilla (the corporation) bought Pocket with money that comes from deals with search engines. That being said, though... > Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'l…

[deleted]

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#89

Post by dawnerd » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

w0m wrote: post #57

reaperducer wrote: post #46

I don't understand why Google and some other tech companies use their users as involuntary, unpaid guinea pigs. No consent. No opt-out. What's the motivation? Is it simple laziness because they don't want to deal with wetware? Is it afraid that if people knew what was happening they wouldn't be happy? Google has eighty brazillion employees it can test new features on.

... what? If you aren't paying for it; you are the product. Simple.

But what about people like me that are paying google (quite a lot actually)?

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#90

Post by kick » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:35 PM UTC

Spooks wrote: post #86

driverdan wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> their executive compensation rates are way too high Just because they're a non-profit doesn't mean execs should be paid far below market rates.

I agree, I never understood that argument. We have a fairly large and wonderful kids hospital that looks for donations and some of my friends said they wouldn't donate because their CEO makes 500k and he should donate his money instead. I had to explain you want to recruit great talent, and that 500k is less than he could make some place else.

The Mozilla Corporation laid off like 70 employees the other day, and Baker's compensation has been inversely tied to the performance of Mozilla.