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Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

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Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#221

Post by lmkg »

zerkten wrote: post #207
reaperducer wrote: post #46

I don't understand why Google and some other tech companies use their users as involuntary, unpaid guinea pigs. No consent. No opt-out. What's the motivation? Is it simple laziness because they don't want to deal with wetware? Is it afraid that if people knew what was happening they wouldn't be happy? Google has eighty brazillion employees it can test new features on.

> No consent. No opt-out. Do you understand what licensing is? That's one of the underlying aspects that's important with software and why you can't treat it like other things you buy. I'd add it's also why things that adopt software-style licencing models are bad too. A company creates a licence with terms and you agree to use the licence under those terms by using the software. The terms are difficult to change unl…

> Do you understand what licensing is?

Nope, no one understands licensing. Which means that arguments grounded on "The user accepted the terms!" has a shaky ethical foundation. Not necessarily a shaky legal foundation, although that wheel seems to be turning.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#222

Post by gruez »

gempir wrote: post #78
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As another commenter pointed out, the list of domains the header is sent to is part of the Chromium codebase: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/comp...

this is just a test case. It could very well be a much bigger list.

Actual list: https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/components/google/core/...

via: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22237768

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#223

Post by gruez »

c16 wrote: post #113
jcl wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, it looks like that's a test case -- it is not part of Chrome itself. They most likely just wanted an example of a third-party website, and could have used any non-Google site there.

Yes, But they tested Yahoo of all websites to make sure they don't send tracking data, and not an unrelated website like wikipedia or archive.org. The only non-google test case too I might add.

It's a test case I wouldn't read too much into it. Maybe it's evidence of a massive anti-trust conspiracy at google, but it could very well be because it's the first domain that came to the programmer's mind at the time.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#224

Post by Monotonic »

rryan wrote: post #171
basscomm wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Btw, Firefox is too slow. Ahh, the good ol' "Firefox is too slow for me to consider it" statement. Is there any evidence that Firefox is slower then Chrome other than old lingering memories of Firefox being slow ten years ago? I have used both Firefox and Chrome and I can't subjectively tell that one is significantly faster or slower than the other. To be fair, I only have a handful of extensions and rarely have mo…

I love that Firefox exists and Quantum is an amazing step forward, but Firefox still regularly runs away with gigabytes of RAM and hung worker processes. I have no problem with long-lived Chrome sessions but I need to restart Firefox ~daily. It's not bad memories of 10-years ago.

I've been using Firefox as my daily browser at work, home, and on my mobile devices, and I've literally never had issues with Firefox taking up too much RAM. Chrome on the other hand was always one of the main culprits when my computer(s) would start to slow down.

This is the problem with anecdotal evidence; everybody's subjective experiences are slightly different and further colored with their own biases, so you can never get hard facts out of it.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#225

Post by quotemstr »

c16 wrote: post #113
jcl wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, it looks like that's a test case -- it is not part of Chrome itself. They most likely just wanted an example of a third-party website, and could have used any non-Google site there.

Yes, But they tested Yahoo of all websites to make sure they don't send tracking data, and not an unrelated website like wikipedia or archive.org. The only non-google test case too I might add.

It's an arbitrary test string, not evidence of evil intent. A sufficiently uncharitable interpretation can make anyone's writing look evil. It's not so.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#226

Post by coldpie »

kick wrote: post #37
bamboozled wrote: post #20

You should also donate to Mozilla because it’s an insanely good piece o software for the price!

Firefox should definitely be used, but donating to Mozilla is a mistake. They waste a lot of it, their executive compensation rates are way too high (especially given that MoCo just laid off employees), and Mozilla still hasn't kept up with promises they gave years ago (that Pocket is still proprietary being a notable and depressing example). Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'll go a lot further, a…

> Firefox should definitely be used, but donating to Mozilla is a mistake.

These seem at odds with each other. If you want Firefox to be used, how do you suggest its development be paid for?

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#227

Post by clSTophEjUdRanu »

kag0 wrote: post #192
clSTophEjUdRanu wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Linking that browser ID to a personal account is trivial as soon as someone logs in to any Google service. Wat? You mean to tell me they can identify you if you log into their service? Am I missing something here? Who cares?

Normally you would only expect to be identified and tracked when using Google services when logged in. The significance of this post is that they would be able to identify and track you across all your usage of that browser installation regardless of if you've logged out, or say in an incognito window.

Ah. So I was missing something. Thanks for clarifying. That is alarming.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#228

Post by [deleted] »

driverdan wrote: post #58
kick wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox should definitely be used, but donating to Mozilla is a mistake. They waste a lot of it, their executive compensation rates are way too high (especially given that MoCo just laid off employees), and Mozilla still hasn't kept up with promises they gave years ago (that Pocket is still proprietary being a notable and depressing example). Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'll go a lot further, a…

> their executive compensation rates are way too high Just because they're a non-profit doesn't mean execs should be paid far below market rates.

[deleted]

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#229

Post by marcinzm »

kevlarr wrote: post #64
kick wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox should definitely be used, but donating to Mozilla is a mistake. They waste a lot of it, their executive compensation rates are way too high (especially given that MoCo just laid off employees), and Mozilla still hasn't kept up with promises they gave years ago (that Pocket is still proprietary being a notable and depressing example). Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'll go a lot further, a…

Donations go to Mozilla "the non-profit organization" rather than Mozilla "the corporation". Mozilla (the corporation) has the typical/bad corporate structures and ridiculous executive compensations. Mozilla (the corporation) had the layoffs. Mozilla (the corporation) bought Pocket with money that comes from deals with search engines. That being said, though... > Donate to smaller developers of software you use, it'l…

That still doesn't answer why should I donate to Mozilla the non-profit? What do they do with my donations? According to another post they don't use them to fund Firefox or presumably any project run by the corporation side.

As I see it if I wanted my donations to go to political or other activism there's more direct and better organizations to donate to with less middle management involved.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#230

Post by antisthenes »

bsharitt wrote: post #198

Everybody imagine going back 15 years and tell yourself that you're using a web browser made by the parent company of DoubleClick. Your 15 year ago self would think you're a moron (assuming that 15 years ago you were old enough to know what DoubleClick was).

Doubleclick ads were, originally, what prompted me to seek an adblock extension.

I think it was around 2006 that I got the extension for Firefox; Google bought them about a year later.

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