What a coincidence... I was just a few seconds ago, before taking a break to read HackerNews, investigating an issue with a Chromium blocker (https://github.com/gorhill/httpswitchboard/issues/79#), and was puzzled finding that the `pref` cookie of `.google.ca` changed every single time the tab of the page lost focus. Even went to Google privacy page to understand what this cookie did, with nothing in their statement that could explain this. Now this?
NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
11–20 of 178 posts
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#12In my opinion, browsers should block all third party website content by default. Yeah, I know, the interwebs will break if they actually did this. Well perhaps someone should come up with some kind of website quality rating which indicates that a site can be viewed withing worrying about the prying eyes of FaceBook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Firefox + Third party cookies blocked + Ghostery + NoScript
Can be a little inconvenient at times but seems justified now.
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#13In my opinion, browsers should block all third party website content by default. Yeah, I know, the interwebs will break if they actually did this. Well perhaps someone should come up with some kind of website quality rating which indicates that a site can be viewed withing worrying about the prying eyes of FaceBook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
I made a post the other day, but it got pushed off 'new' in a few seconds. Anyway, I thought someone should setup a simple one or two page site that summarizes the importance of not tracking visitors. Then, it has a few 'this site respects your privacy' images in a variety of sizes that you can copy and paste into your own site, if you agree to respect those rules.
It would need to be a recognizable image and symbol. The image would link to the site above, that informs users how you respect their privacy and do not track them. Personally, I'd add it to my sites, because with all the recent concern about privacy, I think my users would appreciate this change, and it would provide some advantage over competing sites. I'd like to visit a site, see that image in the footer, and feel more confident using their service.
I think it would be a good way to encourage change from developers. Very few are going to pull Google Analytics on their own. However, if they get pressure from their users to follow a certain privacy standard, and by doing so they can drop an image on their site to illustrate the change and potentially increase trust and improve their reputation, we might see some improvements.
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#14Also, it's worth pointing out that the tracking isn't for search. It's for more profitable advertising.
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#15A perfect reason to NOT let Google own all layers of the stack between you and the internet (or indeed the real world).
Search - Check (goog.com)
Mail - Check (Gmail)
Browser - Check (chrome)
Devices - Check (Android/Chrome books)
Websites - Check (Double click/AdMob, Unknown number of other companies)
Google Analytics - Check
Your DNA - Check (23&Me)
Cars - Check (self-driving cars)
I am probably missing large chunks of tracking even with this list.
Where do you draw the line so that organizations like Google do not handover (willingly or inadvertently) our life to NSA, GCHQ, ASIO, CSIS & whatever New Zealand's Intelligence spooks go by, on a platter?
Heterogeneity - Make the buggers at least have to work a little bit to invade your privacy.
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#16In my opinion, browsers should block all third party website content by default. Yeah, I know, the interwebs will break if they actually did this. Well perhaps someone should come up with some kind of website quality rating which indicates that a site can be viewed withing worrying about the prying eyes of FaceBook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Quality rating? I don't see how that could possibly work in practice...
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#17What a coincidence... I was just a few seconds ago, before taking a break to read HackerNews, investigating an issue with a Chromium blocker ( https://github.com/gorhill/httpswitchboard/issues/79# ), and was puzzled finding that the `pref` cookie of `.google.ca` changed every single time the tab of the page lost focus. Even went to Google privacy page to understand what this cookie did, with nothing in their statemen…
That part (value of `S`) changes everytime the tab loses focus:
pref=[...]:S=J3ITrb9DNMWLQBzc
What kind of "preferences" changes in that way each time the user browse away the page and how does it help "user experience"?
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#18In my opinion, browsers should block all third party website content by default. Yeah, I know, the interwebs will break if they actually did this. Well perhaps someone should come up with some kind of website quality rating which indicates that a site can be viewed withing worrying about the prying eyes of FaceBook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Firefox + Third party cookies blocked + Ghostery + NoScript Can be a little inconvenient at times but seems justified now.
If you're using Firefox, you might like a little add-on called "Cookie Monster", which lets you easily control which sites can set cookies (permanently or temporarily) and indicates whether the site you're on has attempted to set them.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-monste...
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#19A perfect reason to NOT let Google own all layers of the stack between you and the internet (or indeed the real world). Search - Check (goog.com) Mail - Check (Gmail) Browser - Check (chrome) Devices - Check (Android/Chrome books) Websites - Check (Double click/AdMob, Unknown number of other companies) Google Analytics - Check Your DNA - Check (23&Me) Cars - Check (self-driving cars) I am probably missing large chunk…
Your larger point might be true, but has nothing to do with the current revelation.
If every site switched from Google Analytics to, say, Mixpanel... nothing would change. The NSA would just target the equivalent mixpanel cookie. So long as their are popular third-party cookies, this will be a problem.
Re: NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
#20So all that paranoia about being tracked by Google... wasn't paranoid at all. Yes, I know Google likely didn't cooperate in this, but they built a giant tracking engine, so it's not surprising to see it repurposed.
"I know Google likely didn't cooperate in this" I'm sure they have plausible deniability.
It is indeed quite plausible.