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Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

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Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#71

Post by ripdog »

testuser66 wrote: post #56
ComodoHacker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Quantum was good for six months, now we're back to the same situation where almost everyone outside the tech bubble is using Chrome. Did Quantum became worse or you're basically saying Mozilla is bad at marketing (and having huge vertically integrated ecosystem)?

It's hard to move browsers permanently if you're not prepared. I moved to FF Quantom for a bit, but had to regularly open Chrome to get passwords etc. And the Chrome assholes removed the password export (or at least I could not for the life of me get it to work at the time) I ended up going back for a bit and added a password manager, and now I can move between browsers easily - but as I said, it's not always straigh…

Firefox has a built in import of browser data from other browsers such as Chrome. Does this no longer work?

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#73

Post by GoblinSlayer »

mrob wrote: post #13
chimen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even that setup fails: https://blog.dnsadblock.com/you-are-still-being-tracked-even...

Already fixed in uBlock Origin: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.25.0

Looks like sites use first party trackers too for some reason, see the pixel at the end of another posted article: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-opt-out-illusion/ (it's fully packed with trackers though).

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#74

Post by hutattedonmyarm »

testuser66 wrote: post #56
ComodoHacker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Quantum was good for six months, now we're back to the same situation where almost everyone outside the tech bubble is using Chrome. Did Quantum became worse or you're basically saying Mozilla is bad at marketing (and having huge vertically integrated ecosystem)?

It's hard to move browsers permanently if you're not prepared. I moved to FF Quantom for a bit, but had to regularly open Chrome to get passwords etc. And the Chrome assholes removed the password export (or at least I could not for the life of me get it to work at the time) I ended up going back for a bit and added a password manager, and now I can move between browsers easily - but as I said, it's not always straigh…

> It's hard to move browsers permanently if you're not prepared.

I find it rather easy, at least in my case. Passwords are all managed via a password manager, I barely use bookmarks, so most of the work is re-installing and configuring a few plugins, which I also don't use many of

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#75

Post by jeltz »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #20

This is literally, one among many reasons (ha!), why I use Firefox. Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari and Chrome have done recently with their new "security" policies. This is also why I don't use a VPN I don't run (or certainly not one that hasn't been audited with a good reputation), and I certainly would never fucking dream of using a free…

Being a foundation does not entirely remove the incentives to do shady shit, it just reduces them a bit. Look at ISOC's sale of .org or for Mozilla when they gave Cliqz the browsing histories of a random sample of all German Firefox users.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#76

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

> “ Apple and Google restrict root certificate privileges due to the security risk to users. Sensor Tower’s apps bypass the restrictions by prompting users to install a certificate through an external website after an app is downloaded.”

Seems like it will be open and shut case, quickly banning the apps and hopefully Sensor Tower entirely, especially given the other details of the article explaining they’ve already banned apps from Sensor Tower for previous violations.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#77

Post by jackewiehose »

Angostura wrote: post #68
rubyn00bie wrote: post #20

This is literally, one among many reasons (ha!), why I use Firefox. Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari and Chrome have done recently with their new "security" policies. This is also why I don't use a VPN I don't run (or certainly not one that hasn't been audited with a good reputation), and I certainly would never fucking dream of using a free…

> Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari I thought Safari introduced support for Content Blockers specifically to avoid ad blockers from phoning home and passing potentially sensitive information to the ad blocker's writer. Lots of people then got quite cross that their favourite blocker had been blocked.

That is exactly the bullshit they want you to believe. Restricting your ability to install/modify software on your computer because bad software could harm you. You have been bamboozled.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#78

Post by madeofpalk »

jackewiehose wrote: post #77
Angostura wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari I thought Safari introduced support for Content Blockers specifically to avoid ad blockers from phoning home and passing potentially sensitive information to the ad blocker's writer. Lots of people then got quite cross that their favourite blocker had been blocked.

That is exactly the bullshit they want you to believe. Restricting your ability to install/modify software on your computer because bad software could harm you. You have been bamboozled.

I think, especially given events that’ve transpired since, Apple was fairly justified in not giving third party developers unfettered access to web pages and network requests running through the browser.

I am very glad that I can install an add blocker on my phone and I don’t have to trust that it’s not going to mine and sell my data.

I haven’t been bamboozled, I’ve just made a different decision with a different set of trade offs than you.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#80

Post by bigj0n »

Angostura wrote: post #68
rubyn00bie wrote: post #20

This is literally, one among many reasons (ha!), why I use Firefox. Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari and Chrome have done recently with their new "security" policies. This is also why I don't use a VPN I don't run (or certainly not one that hasn't been audited with a good reputation), and I certainly would never fucking dream of using a free…

> Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari I thought Safari introduced support for Content Blockers specifically to avoid ad blockers from phoning home and passing potentially sensitive information to the ad blocker's writer. Lots of people then got quite cross that their favourite blocker had been blocked.

I use safari every day with content blockers and literally never see ads. I use adguard + Safaris own content blockers.

Part of the reason I enjoy Safari is that I've found its content blocking system to be very coherent

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