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

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

#131

Post by koheripbal »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #112

> it won't be long before people or organizations work out what FLoC IDs really mean, e.g. what interests and demographic information they are likely correlated with. Isn't this good? I would rather set my actual interests in the browser settings! I also am upfront glad to tell them to anybody interested so we might find common interests or discover something new. The only reason I would rather hide such data actuall…

There's an important privacy trade-off there. At the end of the day, it's about choice.

I want the CHOICE to share my interests in return to have more relevant content.

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

#132

Post by Causality1 »

I try to sell friends and family on resisting Google's privacy invasions but lately it always goes the same way. "Yeah I know they know everything. How does that hurt me, like how does that cause me a problem in a real way that makes my life worse?" And I can't come up with a good answer for that.

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

#133

Post by bnj »

discordianfish wrote: post #83
manuelflara wrote: post #53

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…

This isn't a false premise. Either you get the ad supported industry behind some solution or whatever privacy respecting solution will be incompatible with these sites.

To paraphrase something I saw on twitter recently: The ad supported industry needs to track users; users don't need the ad supported industry.

If the effort to increase user control and privacy continues, sites that can't support themselves without targeted ad revenue will either adapt or fold.

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

#134

Post by foxhop »

theonlybutlet wrote: post #41

To be honest though, for the general public not using adblockers, is FloC not better privacy wise than your traditional cookies?

Google is trying to vilify browser cookies and slip in their proprietary tracking and profiling as a safe alternative. It's not better they simply want a monopoly on the dark arts of privacy intrusion, they want to build a moat and burn the bridges of the old way.

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

#135

Post by indigochill »

I generally am on the pro-Firefox, anti-Chrome train, but there is one practical exception: websites that make use of in-browser audio synthesis often (in my experience) just don't work in Firefox.

Audible Genius's Building Blocks course has a in-browser DAW that you need to use Chrome for. Flowkey (browser-based piano lessons) also only works in Chrome, as far as I've been able to figure out.

So to anyone with an inclination, Firefox could use help on that front. Or if someone already knows of a Firefox-based solution, I'd be happy to use it. I just haven't found one yet.

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

#136

Post by josefresco »

cmeacham98 wrote: post #118
tngranados wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You are correct, but if you don't own a Mac/iPhone, you cannot test on Safari.

How close is iOS Safari to OSX Safari?

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

#137

Post by foxhop »

asddubs wrote: post #32
propertymagnate wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I can appreciate not wanting to use DDG for a number of reasons, but because they are pushing for financial legitimacy on the basis that there can be an ad industry but it shouldn't be an arms race? Yes thank you, please make a market out of privacy! edit: I should probably say, please prove that privacy respecting markets are viable, I'm not suggesting the commoditisation of everything, lol.

seems like they're coopting privacy awareness to advertise themselves. the site appears to be a walking talking duckduckgo ad, with just enough other content sprinkled in to seem like actual advice. I mean it's not as nefarious as it could be since they are actually privacy focused, but this blend of advice and advertisement is rubbing me the wrong way

They speak truth to the matter and posit a better way.

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

#138

Post by Communitivity »

cmeacham98 wrote: post #118
tngranados wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You are correct, but if you don't own a Mac/iPhone, you cannot test on Safari.

I own both, and an Android phone. Unfortunately, I don't own a memory checker for HN. I test with Safari as well, I just forgot to add it to the list.

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

#139

Post by [deleted] »

throwaways885 wrote: post #108
nicklecompte wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 gra…

[deleted]

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

#140

Post by qwerty456127 »

gkbrk wrote: post #115
qwerty456127 wrote: post #112

> it won't be long before people or organizations work out what FLoC IDs really mean, e.g. what interests and demographic information they are likely correlated with. Isn't this good? I would rather set my actual interests in the browser settings! I also am upfront glad to tell them to anybody interested so we might find common interests or discover something new. The only reason I would rather hide such data actuall…

Most likely what you mean setting interests in the browser settings (general interests) and the FLoC cohorts are on much different scales. A FLoC cohort will probably contain a few thousand people, combined with any other data points will probably be enough to uniquely identify you.

Sure, I don't advocate FLoC itself (because I don't want to be uniquely identified through fingerprinting) but I'm not sure I understand why particular FLoC cohorts actual meaning being discovered is considered bad. I actually feel like I want that to happen so I could probably tweak my cohort consciously.
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