Live data from Hacker News

DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

spreadprivacy.com

101–110 of 259 posts

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#101
I use Firefox. So does my family. Everything I make for personal use works in Firefox and I don't bother testing with anything else.

However, almost every web site or web app I make in my professional capacity gets tested with, and is expected to work with, ~95% of browsers. That means testing against Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, UC Browser, Samsung Internet, and Internet Explorer. Edit: I forgot to add Safari, which I also test with.

Anything less is not my brand of professionalism, because I am convinced my clients expect me to leave my personal thoughts and convictions at the door. If you want to only create sites that work in Firefox and maybe not elsewhere, then you can do that - but doing it ethically means telling the client upfront that you won't accept work that requires the site work for the widest audience reasonably possible.

That said, there are two caveats. The first is ethics. I do not leave my ethics at the door and if I am being asked to do something unethical I will refund the money and walk. If it is illegal it will be reported, as otherwise I am an accessory. Clients agree to this upfront. The second is client requests. If the client wants it to work in Firefox and they tell me not to bother with the other websites, despite my advice against it, then that's what I do.

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way is the site "optimized for privacy-respecting browsers" ? The browser is the thing being optimized. Does it mean to say that the website operators will intentionnaly not respect privacy of Chrome users but they will for Firefox ? “Chrome users might experience issues” but what issues ? It reads like a dishonest TOS like the one used by service providers using catch-all statements to cover their backs. It…

As a web developer I don’t test in Chrome—I develop against Firefox and sanity check using Safari iOS. Therefore my site is explicitly optimised for Firefox. Chrome users might experience issues. Or they won’t. I have no idea.

So it is very likely that you do not live of being a web developer or have a very small niche market, given the market share of FF and the market share of chrome.

No normal buisness can ignore how the vast majority of its users experience their site. Every user with issues is likely a lost user.

But ... from a technical point of view, it is indeed very likely that what runs on FF will also run on chrome, but not necessarily the other way around.

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#103
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But that framing is based on a false premise Another false premise is that the "old tracking" will stop because of the "new tracking".

Chrome is entirely removing third-party cookies by 2022. https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/14/21064698/google-third-par...

That's very generous. However, with the plethora of browser fingerprinting techniques, cookies today have become almost irrelevant:

https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/

https://scrapebot.com/browser-fingerprinting-techniques/

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#104

I use Firefox. So does my family. Everything I make for personal use works in Firefox and I don't bother testing with anything else. However, almost every web site or web app I make in my professional capacity gets tested with, and is expected to work with, ~95% of browsers. That means testing against Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, UC Browser, Samsung Internet, and Internet Explorer. Edit: I forgot to add Safari, whic…

If you are leaving out Safari you are not testing on 95% of the browsers. At least market share wise, which is the only metric that makes sense.

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#105
The best way to get ppl to stop using chrome is to fork it, and add new experimental functionality that doesnt exist in chrome. I don't know if it's feasible but missing features in new platforms (e.g. VR) will motivate people to switch and then it will become a self-reinforcing loop. Integrating metamask in the browser could be a game changerfor payments and identity management.

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#106
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll leave this quote from the EFF article on FloC[1] > Google’s pitch to privacy advocates is that a world with FLoC (and other elements of the “privacy sandbox”) will be better than the world we have today, where data brokers and ad-tech giants track and profile with impunity. But that framing is based on a false premise that we have to choose between “old tracking” and “new tracking.” It’s not either-or. Instead o…

> But that framing is based on a false premise Another false premise is that the "old tracking" will stop because of the "new tracking".

The old tracking is stopping whether sites want to or not, since users are now wise to uBlock Origin and browsers have finally started pushing for privacy.

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#107
post #94

Brave has also disabled FLoC: https://brave.com/why-brave-disables-floc/

That's only while Google graciously allows to disable it at all. When Google will decide to make Floc permanent, these Chrome mods called Brave and Vivaldi will be forced to do it too.

how will they be forced?

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#108
post #5

Even without privacy considerations though, duckduckgo seems to give me better results, I've been using it as my default search engine for years

DuckDuckGo works really well for 90% of my “searches,” which are basically asking for a specific Wikipedia article / blog / Twitter account / etc, so I don’t have to type in the full URL. But I find DuckDuckGo really bad for some searches where I’m not looking for a specific domain: - searching for papers or technical blog posts is almost useless in DDG. Software stuff in particular seems heavily front-loaded towards…

> lots of lonely white men

We don't need that kind of rhetoric on HN.

Part of the reason I suspect Bing/DDG return right-leaning content is because grassroots US internet culture itself slants slightly to the right (as it slanted to the left back 10 years ago). Whereas Google pushes authoritative sources heavily, which tend to skew corporate-left.

Corporate content is less likely to push flagrant untruths (unlike grassroots extremists on either side), and what propaganda there is, is usually much more subtle.

A balance is needed, to be sure.

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#109

I use Firefox. So does my family. Everything I make for personal use works in Firefox and I don't bother testing with anything else. However, almost every web site or web app I make in my professional capacity gets tested with, and is expected to work with, ~95% of browsers. That means testing against Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, UC Browser, Samsung Internet, and Internet Explorer. Edit: I forgot to add Safari, whic…

> with the other websites

You meant with the other browsers, right?

Re: DuckDuckGo Extension to Block FLoC, Google’s New Tracking Method in Chrome

#110
> It groups you based on your interests and demographics, derived from your browsing history

For my whole life I have always been configuring my browsers to clear all history on close or disable it entirely. Is FLoC still going to work anyway? Is the history accumulated and analyzed on the server side?

Post reply on HN