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

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#181

Post by sildur » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:35 PM UTC

clSTophEjUdRanu wrote: post #175

pdkl95 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is impressive doublespeak. > This ... header ... will not contain any personally identifiable information > a seed number which is randomly selected on first run ... chosen between 0 and 7999 (13 bits of entropy) They are not including any PII... while creating a new identifier for each installation. 13 bits of entropy probably isn't a unique identifier iff you only look at that header in isolation. Combined wit…

>Linking that browser ID to a personal account is trivial as soon as someone logs in to any Google service. Wat? You mean to tell me they can identify you if you log into their service? Am I missing something here? Who cares?

I care. I care that I even if I log off, even if I use a vpn, even if I go into incognito mode, they still can associate my requests with the account I initially logged in.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#182

Post by cft » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:35 PM UTC

Just in time for their announcement that they plan to abolish third party cookies by 2021. Talk about monopoly.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#183

Post by gruez » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:36 PM UTC

deathanatos wrote: post #169

Diederich wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a quick summary of what major site/features that will be unavailable in Chromium vs. Chrome? I assume, for example, that 'netflix' will be prominently on that list. Thanks.

I use Chromium; you can still Netflix. It does, however, require installation of "WideVine", which is an opaque, closed, binary blob. (But you're getting that with Chrome, too, I believe.) You can also do Netflix in Firefox, through exactly the same mechanism.

>You can also do Netflix in Firefox, through exactly the same mechanism.

It's somewhat better on Firefox because they run the binary blobs in a sandbox.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#184

Post by ritchiea » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:37 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.

Has Firefox fixed the bug that made it eat up resources, crank the fans and go nuts on retina MacBook Pros?

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#185

Post by make3 » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:37 PM UTC

clSTophEjUdRanu wrote: post #175

pdkl95 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is impressive doublespeak. > This ... header ... will not contain any personally identifiable information > a seed number which is randomly selected on first run ... chosen between 0 and 7999 (13 bits of entropy) They are not including any PII... while creating a new identifier for each installation. 13 bits of entropy probably isn't a unique identifier iff you only look at that header in isolation. Combined wit…

>Linking that browser ID to a personal account is trivial as soon as someone logs in to any Google service. Wat? You mean to tell me they can identify you if you log into their service? Am I missing something here? Who cares?

he means they can continue to identify you after you log off

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#186

Post by ThePowerOfFuet » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:38 PM UTC

ritchiea wrote: post #184

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.

Has Firefox fixed the bug that made it eat up resources, crank the fans and go nuts on retina MacBook Pros?

Long ago.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#187

Post by mdiesel » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:38 PM UTC

clSTophEjUdRanu wrote: post #175

pdkl95 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is impressive doublespeak. > This ... header ... will not contain any personally identifiable information > a seed number which is randomly selected on first run ... chosen between 0 and 7999 (13 bits of entropy) They are not including any PII... while creating a new identifier for each installation. 13 bits of entropy probably isn't a unique identifier iff you only look at that header in isolation. Combined wit…

>Linking that browser ID to a personal account is trivial as soon as someone logs in to any Google service. Wat? You mean to tell me they can identify you if you log into their service? Am I missing something here? Who cares?

If you browse the internet, they could know what websites are visited by the same person, but not who they are exactly.

If you visit a load of websites, then also log into google, they connect the two and they know what websites were visited by you specifically.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#188

Post by zepto » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:39 PM UTC

shawnz wrote: post #180

w0m wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This is a meaningless cliche. Just because users of Google products don't pay in cash to use them doesn't change the fact that Google has to attract the users to their platform in the first place, and keep them there.

No, Google has paid to be the the default in most cases.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#189

Post by kevlarr » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:39 PM UTC

kick wrote: post #91

kevlarr wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The Mozilla Foundation controls and owns the Mozilla Corporation, and the executive structure looks more or less the same. Baker's compensation has been inversely tied with performance, and she runs both.

Owns, yes. That is radically different from "funds", though.

Not going to dispute anything about executive structure or Baker's compensation and (mis)management, but a lot of people here are acting like donations either go directly to the corporation or funnel to it through the actual recipient of the donations, but there isn't really any evidence being presented.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#190

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 4:40 PM UTC

pdkl95 wrote: post #94

janpot wrote: post #4

Not endorsing this, but according to https://www.google.com/chrome/privacy/whitepaper.html#variat... > We want to build features that users want, so a subset of users may get a sneak peek at new functionality being tested before it’s launched to the world at large. A list of field trials that are currently active on your installation of Chrome will be included in all requests sent to Google. This Chrome-Variations he…

This is impressive doublespeak. > This ... header ... will not contain any personally identifiable information > a seed number which is randomly selected on first run ... chosen between 0 and 7999 (13 bits of entropy) They are not including any PII... while creating a new identifier for each installation. 13 bits of entropy probably isn't a unique identifier iff you only look at that header in isolation. Combined wit…

> > Experiments may be further limited by country (determined by your IP address)

> They even admit to inspecting the IP address...

I don't think that sentence admits what you say? Chrome could be determining which experiments to run client-side.

Of course, when you visit a Google property, they needs must inspect your IP address to send a response to you, at a minimum. That goes for any site you might choose to visit. The existence of sufficient entropy to personally identify a site visitor is not a state secret. They do not need this chrome experiment seed to identify you, if that's a goal.