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Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

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Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#381
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be surprised how many of us under-35s still have to use Fax machines on a regular basis ;)

Especially anyone who works in law, government, banking, or healthcare.

I love that some of the most-sensitive information users are the ones hanging on to a completely-unsecured transmission method. Sure, tell me again about all those HIPAA and SOX requirements when we still have fax machines.

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#382
post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there is no such a thing as an ethical comment. Comments are a cynical deployment of our knowledge of crowd wisdom, media manipulation, and statistics to make people part with their opinions for others they wouldn't think they agree with. -- Sorry, there is such a think as "more" ethical ads. If you want to be pedantic and argue they should use "more" suit yourself. But things are not black and white, your comment is…

I'm not trying to manipulate anyone. I'm voicing my opinion. I don't buy anything from advertisements. Period. When I need something, I shop for it. And if you think I'm alone, you're kidding yourself.

that's totally fine. I prefer a world without advertisement, ideally. I disagree with you that there is no spectrum of ad ethics.

And while you are not "trying" to manipulate anyone (maybe), I also disagree that you are not effectively influencing your reader thoughts to some degree.

The analogy I made is: even an internet comment does, on a smaller scale, less maliciously, use persuasion techniques: should we get rid of discussion forums too? I don't think so, and while an ad-less world seems like a nice experiment, sounds pretty unrealistic, regulating (outlawing would be nice) tracking in ads? More realistic and fixing 80% of what's wrong with 20% of the effort if you ask me

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#383
post #261

Use uBlock Origin, Multi Account Containers, Privacy Badger, Decentraleyes and CookieAutoDelete with Firefox. Make sure you aggressively clear cache, cookies, etc., periodically (with CookieAutoDelete). You’ll probably load the web servers more and also add more traffic on your network, but it will help protect your privacy since most websites don’t care about that. When websites are user hostile, you have to take pr…

I use umatrix... as long as it lasts.

umatrix is built into ublock origin now, just enable advanced mode in ublock.

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#384
post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Checks still in use in Canada as well. I had a person today tell me they had 3 checks stolen and cashed and my response was “people still use checks?”.

The demise of checks is greatly exaggerated. I've written about 70 or so checks in the last 5 years. Mostly: Property taxes, home improvement contractors, dues for various clubs and social groups, kids activities, and some mail-in retailers who simply don't take credit card. That's leaving out the "automatic bill pay" function of my bank's web site, which, for most payees, at the end of the day results in physical pa…

> The demise of checks is greatly exaggerated.

That varies a lot by jurisdiction. I'm 50 and I haven't written a single check in my entire life. (Sweden.)

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to use a Fax machine in 2018. In the United States. As the only acceptable way to submit certain documents. I should also point to non-Unitedstatians that checks (that physical paper worth as much money as you write and sign on it) are still in use in the USA.

I still use checks because in the US there are certain things you can't use a credit card for, e.g. loan payments. I pay contractors with checks because almost none accept credit cards and cash gets cumbersome once you start getting into 4 and 5 digits. My local utilities all charge a "convenience fee" of a few dollars when paying online or with a credit card. Sending a check in the mail costs me only $0.50. (Even th…

Can't you use a wire-transfer or an ACH transfer? All those use cases are easily solved with electronic transactions in most of Europe, Asia and even in Latin American countries like brazil. They are usually inexpensive or free and instantaneous.

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#387
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use your browser settings to block third-party cookies altogether. And, better yet, install uBlock Origin and never see an ad again.

Please don't. Unless you are willing to pay for the services you are using for free now, ads is what keeps them "free". You can object to being targeted based on your browsing habits, but don't stop ads altogether.

Eh, I get where you're coming from, but no. The ad industry is insidious and has exploited every means possible to hijack the user's attention: pop-ups, flashing banners, auto-playing videos with sound, inline ads that reflow what you're reading after they take way too long to load, extensions that insert ads, paying ISPs to insert ads, talking to Alexa through your TV...

There is no level these people will not stoop to, and we're sick of their shit. They brought this on themselves.

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#389
post #325
post #18

"In the case of Firefox’s image cache, a tracker can create a supercookie by “encoding” an identifier for the user in a cached image on one website, and then “retrieving” that identifier on a different website by embedding the same image." Clever. And so frustrating that optimisations need to be turned off due to bad actors.

I'm curious how bad disabling this caching feature would be. Specifically, how often do you load the same image on two different domains?

Instead of thinking "same image on different domains, think "hidden uniquely-named single pixel image".

Re: Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies

#390
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many people reading this comment are thinking, "what's a fax machine?" :o) I like the analogy, but I wonder how effective it is on anyone under the age of what, 35?

I’m in the age group you mention and although I’ve only used a fax twice, I can totally understand the analogy.

Easy enough to just use "text messages" since it was not very long ago that you had to pay to receive them but had no ability to block them without disabling them entirely.

At least for those of us that were late adopters of text messages.

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