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This is a bit f'd, Quora

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Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#81

Post by gfosco »

chimeracoder wrote: post #27
thebooktocome wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did... unique among their database...

You may be unique, but within a very small pool. For example, my current user agent string alone narrows me down to within one in ~2-3 million users/browsers. When taken with the intersection of all those other bits, it's very easy to get an incredibly high-resolution snapshot of an individual...

I'm looking at this from a different direction. I don't want my fingerprint to be unique, unless it is truly random on every request. I don't want any server to be able to tie any two requests of mine together without my permission (in the form of headers/cookies). That's the whole cookie/tracking argument right there. If you are isolated from a crowd, unique, then you can be tracked and analyzed.

I used Panopticlick, and no one else who has used Panopticlick had the same fingerprint. The meat of the uniqueness was in Browser Plugins and System Fonts. Think about that... If you've installed a few random fonts you found online, you're probably sending a unique font signature. If you've grabbed a few plugins, messed around with extensions, then you're probably sending a unique plugin signature.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#82

Post by J_Darnley »

Herring wrote: post #33
manaskarekar wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware of that link and here's my result in Chrome on Incognito. Within our dataset of several million visitors, only one in 1,172,808 browsers have the same fingerprint as yours. Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys 20.16 bits of identifying information.

I changed my user agent string & managed to get down to 15.99 bits of information (one in 65,161). Curious if anyone did better.

Would you care to go into detail about what you changed? Wouldn't changing too much make a user agent stand out?

Now I come to think about it, changing the GB to US in my user agent would probably make it less unique.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#83

Post by cs702 »

It seems that almost every week I read about yet another "social" company breaching longstanding societal norms regarding privacy. Quora is just the latest example.

What happens next has become rather predictable: a few voices criticize the company in question, the company (maybe) issues some kind of public apology, and then... nothing seems to change.

Maybe our society doesn't really care that much about privacy.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#84

Post by samstave »

vijayr wrote: post #28
ozataman wrote: post #6

Wow, this is a really big lapse of judgement on Quora's part. I'm contemplating if I should delete my account altogether. In any case, thank you for posting it here - at least people can take the precautions. Edit: That yes/no button is not at all obvious! They need some form of green/red color coding.

You'll have to send an email to privacy@quora.com to delete your account. I did, and they deleted my account. I also told them politely that broadcasting what every user reads to the entire world is very creepy. It is a shame, as the quality of answers at quora is much higher than in other places.

See my earlier posts about this. I deleted my account and asked for confirmation this was done, they stated it was - but all my info, comments, edits etc are all still there just simply no longer under my name!!

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#85

Post by ctdonath »

heyitsnick wrote: post #13

I see the author's point, and users should be aware Quora does this and have the facility to disable this but ... is this not an over reaction? Viewing a question titled “Should I come out to my parents?” or “What is the best way to hide an affair?” doesn't in any way imply you are gay or hiding an affair... just that you showed some interesting the question and possible answers. I'd be interesting in both those topi…

Yes, it does imply. Extrapolated conclusions may not be correct, but it does imply. Sure there may be a sensible rational explanation proving the implication is wrong, but until reason is provided to analyze that motivation, it does imply. For many such allegedly misunderstandable implications, odds are high the implication is correct.

heyitsnick posted on Hacker News. Looking at just one post, and even noting that the post has absolutely no technical or business relevance, is a VERY strong indicator that heyitsnick has a strong interest in technology and business.

The fact that Quora publishes, by default, every user's every viewing will, in practice, pretty much demolish the "but it was just once" claim by making public whether such viewings (whatever the subject) were, in fact, just once.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#86

Post by DASD »

blhack wrote: post #59
its_so_on wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blhack, I ran across this comment of yours - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4377315 - and certainly appreciate your privacy concerns. A healthy private life is undoubtedly everyone's personal choice. At the same time, HackerNews is YCombinator's tech blog, and highly visible. Frankly, your opinion comes off as somewhat paranoid. It's not that it isn't justified, I'm not saying that one way or another, but I woul…

Hey guys! Just wanted to give an update! We hired my cousin, who has a lot of experince building model rockets, and have begun exploring launch sites! The meatball sandwiches that those of you are getting at the $6 level should be coming out soon. Pick them up at subway with a $5 shipping fee. Also, we are going to need a little bit more money for our new office in downtown San Francisco. See attached picture of our…

Sir, I read about your CTO position you posted on Craigslist. Since we both read on Quora that the future of computing is Cobol then we are like brothers already. I know a guy who installed PHP and he has a friend on Facebook(my other friend even saw it). I'll give you his username on ExpertSexChange but I need a corner office and vesting in 6 months.

P.S. Everyone will have forgotten the lawsuit against Charbucks by now. We can sell some of the extra coffee beans from the leftovers burned on the "launchpad." Ebay?...I have 91% satisfaction account. I await your Linked-In Connection so we can start the next part to hire me. I am ready to live in a valley.

P.P.S You still on my _ ? Sir, Your photo looks different now than the one on your Instagram.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#87

Post by ghshephard »

its_so_on wrote: post #36
blhack wrote: post #4

The new "social" web is really creepy . Browsing in an incognito browser and logged into nothing has sortof become my default. I don't want google chrome saving my search history, or to accidentally read an article on some news website that then broadcasts that fact to all of my facebook friends.

Blhack, I ran across this comment of yours - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4377315 - and certainly appreciate your privacy concerns. A healthy private life is undoubtedly everyone's personal choice. At the same time, HackerNews is YCombinator's tech blog, and highly visible. Frankly, your opinion comes off as somewhat paranoid. It's not that it isn't justified, I'm not saying that one way or another, but I woul…

This is great, bordering on brilliant satire. I don't even want to think of how much effort was required to create this comment - but, there is at least one person, who really appreciated it.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#88

Post by joe_bloggs »

Equally f'd up is the fact that you cannot delete your Quora account. Seriously. Try searching for any such option in your settings page. They only have a "deactivate" option, and once you deactivate, you can reactivate anytime by just logging in again :)

Found this quora post:

http://www.quora.com/Quora-product/How-do-I-delete-my-Quora-...

According to a Quora engineer, it seems you can delete your account by emailing privacy@quora.com

Wow! This certainly sounds like something EFF (https://www.eff.org/) should try and do something about.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#89

Post by jrockway »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #63
jrockway wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I'm not sure what's going on here. If you want to send blhack an email, do that. This personal letter is not an appropriate use of HN comments. And sending private messages in public is quite non-cool.

I think it was meant as a demonstration of the 'creepy social web'.

The comment-stalking is creepy, but posting content publicly that you explicitly post publicly isn't.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#90

Post by tsunamifury »

jrockway wrote: post #51
its_so_on wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blhack, I ran across this comment of yours - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4377315 - and certainly appreciate your privacy concerns. A healthy private life is undoubtedly everyone's personal choice. At the same time, HackerNews is YCombinator's tech blog, and highly visible. Frankly, your opinion comes off as somewhat paranoid. It's not that it isn't justified, I'm not saying that one way or another, but I woul…

What? I'm not sure what's going on here. If you want to send blhack an email, do that. This personal letter is not an appropriate use of HN comments. And sending private messages in public is quite non-cool.

"And sending private messages in public is quite non-cool."

Exactly.

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