Anything we can toss into the HOSTS file to address this?
127.0.0.1 analytics.tiktok.com
127.0.0.1 googletagmanager.comTikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
181–190 of 214 posts
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#182The TikTok pixel is not actually a pixel like in the old days. It is not a 1x1 transparent image loaded from their servers. It is executable javascript code. All you have to do to stop 99% of the corporate spying is disable unsafe remote code execution. It's hard to believe I have to say that after the many decades of people getting it drilled into their heads "Do not open random email attachments" but here we are in…
> It's hard to believe I have to say that after the many decades of people getting it drilled into their heads "Do not open random email attachments" (...)
You need to take a step back and figure out what you're failing to understand before going into these "everyone is a fool" rants.
One of the reasons people don't understand the risks is the fact that, by design, these risks don't exist at the eye of the end user. No one knows, not even you, how many servers are being hit when you click on a link.
You're opening emails, you're clicking a link, and hundreds of requests are flying out of your browser right under your nose to God knows where. How many of them are requesting useless images you never saw? How many if them are reporting telemetry data on how you're using a website? You do not know. Why are you whining about other not knowing as well?
Privacy is a hard problem because everyone is using a system explicitly designed to transfer information around without any control or supervision. Up until now the best tool we have at our disposal is a set of laws that require companies to disclose and delete data they collect on us.
Blaming the end user for clicking links is victim blaming, and demonstrates a colossal amount of ignorance about the problem domain.
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#183The TikTok pixel is not actually a pixel like in the old days. It is not a 1x1 transparent image loaded from their servers. It is executable javascript code. All you have to do to stop 99% of the corporate spying is disable unsafe remote code execution. It's hard to believe I have to say that after the many decades of people getting it drilled into their heads "Do not open random email attachments" but here we are in…
Look, I do run uBO. It doesn't even completely block JS, yet it still routinely breaks very basic pages, and I have to use a lot of webdev and industry knowledge to even try to unbreak them without entirely turning off blocking. So no, for most people who want to use mainstream websites, just turning off JS is not a real option. That this is a dystopic scenario does not change the practical reality.
I use uBO with JavaScript on and almost all the filter lists it ships with enabled. Never had any problems with web functionality.
I just tried adding tiktok.com to "My filters", but it seems like ads.tiktok.com is still accessible with that rule -- how can I block all tiktok subdomains simultaneously?
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#184No, they don't track me across the web ;) I have js disabled by default on my PC's and laptops. If I need (or want) to use a site that require js, I do so in a VM, and I use that VM only for one or a few related sites (like Hacker News and Slashdot). Each VM has different screen sizes and operating systems / Linux distributions. If I research a subject that is even slightly controversial, I use the Tor browser from a…
That sounds like a lot of work for what could be covered by self-destructing cookies, spoofing your user-agent, and in the worst case using Tor (which for me is a keyboard shortcut in Brave). I really don't think the extra hassle of VMs is worth it -- these are ad companies trying to fingerprint you, not state actors using zero-days on you. Personally, I dream of a future where 90% of content is delivered over RSS or…
> That sounds like a lot of work
It's a matter of principle. And once the VM's are created, they don't add much overhead.
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really really wish that I could convince Web Developers that not every website needs to be a web app. I keep bringing up that I don't want JS to execute random code, even if it's sandboxed, it's mostly unnecessary, and I always get the same sort of replies. Everyone calls me out of touch, I'm downvoted to oblivion, everyone suggests that I'm a unique case and everyone wants JS, they say that they don't want fragmen…
I agree with you. As a user, I want web developers to have as little freedom as possible. The freedom they enjoy today implies the potential for abuse and boy do they abuse it. Tracking and fingerprinting everywhere, anti-patterns everywhere, sites that are painful to use because they use javascript for everything and even the back button doesn't works properly, sites that don't even render at all without javascript…
If web developers had freedom, there would be minimal amount of tracking, fingerprinting or anti-patterns. If you want to assign blame, you have to look higher in the food chain
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
While true you can use HN just fine with JS disabled.
I could have said chat clients, games, maps or other things that absolutely require JavaScript. I said upvote on HN to illustrate that even the most basic site still needs some JS to create a sane experience. Having the page reload every time you upvote a comment is not a good alternative.
It's been working for me for years just fine without JS. As for chat clients and games, those things absolutely do not belong in the slow pile of abstractions that is a web browser. They should be native applications and they are on my computers.
But you're right about maps. They're extremely well suited to being viewed in a browser with javascript.
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
AdGuard on iOS works in Safari and all in-app browsers that use Safari View Controllers (unfortunately a lot of malicious apps such as social networks don't use it for this exact reason). It's not a perfect replacement for UBO as the underlying filtering API isn't as powerful but it does a good enough job most of the time. It still uses the same filter lists as UBO (though again it's not able to make all rules work,…
I'm not familiar enough with iOS, does Apple still allow apps to use a different web view that the filters do not apply to? If so is there any reason they shouldn't require Safari View Controllers for App Store submission?
> does Apple still allow apps to use a different web view that the filters do not apply to
The web views the filters don't apply to have different use-cases such as customizing/hiding the browser UI elements, injecting Javascript, etc. There are legitimate reasons to use it in some cases (in case you need to display server-side-rendered content as if it was native).
Of course, Apple could decide on a case-by-case basis and reject usages of the legacy web view when the new implementation is appropriate, but they won't just like they don't do anything for apps that lie on the "privacy nutrition labels" about the data they collect or various other breaches of the App Store guidelines.
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple has an ad platform. Do they use this?
Apple's ad platform does not track users or their behavior.
The be precise:
Apple’s advertising platform does not track you, meaning that it does not link user or device data collected from our apps with user or device data collected from third parties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes, and does not share user or device data with data brokers.
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#189So I have a pi hole for my home network, and a wireguard connection back to it when I'm out and about. I run ublock on everything, block all the javascript, all the stuff. But I do it because ads are annoying -- I don't like how they look and I don't like how they slow down every experience. I...don't really care about the tracking aspect? As far as I can tell, nothing bad happens to people because some faceless enti…
The argument goes, that if they can target you for ads they can also correlate this with political beliefs, your ethnicity, your financial situation and so one. If you want a credit and you are friends with people who don't pay back their debts you are also a risk for the bank and get a higher rate. If you want an insurance and you are a extrem cyclists you won't get one. If you open a shopping side and they know you…
Yes, I am very aware of all the potential dangers, which contributes to my blocking everything in the first place. I am curious if, in the United States, there are any realized dangers to these privacy violations.
The Udemy thing is interesting, but it's also (as far as I can tell) just doing stuff with first party cookies and region lookups. Nothing at all the level of sophistication that is being observed from Meta or Tiktok.
I'd love to hear stories of people who got screwed because of facebook or Google's broad web of surveillance, but as near as I can tell, nobody is actually being harmed.
Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple's ad platform does not track users or their behavior.
They do and unlike a browser you have no control over it
If this were the case, it would be a huge lawsuit, given they state the opposite:
You can turn off Personalized Ads on your iOS or iPadOS device by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and tapping to turn off Personalized Ads. On Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Privacy, click Apple Advertising, and deselect Personalized Ads. The Personalized Ads option may be unavailable if you are a minor, have a managed account, or are in a location where Apple does not deliver advertising to its apps.