Google and Facebook are watching our every move online • Hacker News Board

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#31

Post by confounded » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

randomString1 wrote: post #24

ucaetano wrote: post #3

Yes! Disable 3rd party cookies, delete your Google & Facebook accounts, and done. Easy peasy.

I wish that was enough. The articles that show up here on HN from time to time make me think they can cross-reference data and fingerprint you through many data sources and more advanced tracking (things that we discover from time to time like canvas, css). People that have you on their contact list, your e-mails that hit their servers even when you don't have a Gmail, DNS, CDN, cloud services, your phone unless you…

> it's all futile

It’s not. While Facebook will exfiltrate and cross reference your name and number from associates’ address books, this wildly different than keeping a log of everywhere you travel, the time you wake and sleep, hundreds of tagged images of your face, all the news you read, and how readily you can be influenced. Primarily to influence your mind and behavior for profit, but all available to international governments to keep and eye on you, too.

I agree that Facebook and Google are too powerful, and that there should be much better protections around consumer data. Support the EFF, talk to your representatives.

Fatalism serves no one but Facebook and Google.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#32

Post by twistiti » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:59 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #30

randomString1 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that was enough. The articles that show up here on HN from time to time make me think they can cross-reference data and fingerprint you through many data sources and more advanced tracking (things that we discover from time to time like canvas, css). People that have you on their contact list, your e-mails that hit their servers even when you don't have a Gmail, DNS, CDN, cloud services, your phone unless you…

How difficult would it be to defeat fingerprinting by injection of noise? I.e. your browser configuration/characteristics change every now and then by a tiny amount.

If not mistaken, this is the approach taken by adnauseam.io (Chrome Extension) or in a simpler form makeinternetnoise.com .

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#33

Post by igravious » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:59 PM UTC

rand0mthought wrote: post #19

Funny, but Privacy Badger blocked 10 trackers in this article

FTA: “What you may not realize, though, is 76 percent of websites now contain hidden Google trackers, and 24 percent have hidden Facebook trackers, according to the Princeton Web Transparency & Accountability Project. The next highest is Twitter with 12 percent.”

Article postscript: “Commentary by Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo, which makes online privacy tools, including an alternative search engine to Google. Follow him on Twitter @yegg .

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.”

Kind of set off my irony detector!

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#34

Post by rectang » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:00 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #14

rectang wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. I launch gmail in a site-specific browser process so that my login is isolated. This makes it so that in my main browser, I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. As a bonus, the "filter bubble" effect is diminished for my Google searches. That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience.

I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. If they see activity from one IP to say search, then activity from the same IP to visit the top result of that search, they don’t need a cookie to track you. Anyone who shares an IP has seen ads actually targeting another member of their household...

Yes, that is possible -- and I'm sure that other trackers are doing their best with fingerprinting, etc and that they manage a certain amount despite my having Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin enabled in my main browser.

However, IP based associations do not show up in the user history that Google allows me to see, and as far as I can tell Google does not change my experience based on it.

I'm still subject to some filter bubble effects because I only zero out my main browser every few days.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#35

Post by amelius » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

twistiti wrote: post #32

amelius wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How difficult would it be to defeat fingerprinting by injection of noise? I.e. your browser configuration/characteristics change every now and then by a tiny amount.

If not mistaken, this is the approach taken by adnauseam.io (Chrome Extension) or in a simpler form makeinternetnoise.com .

Ok, interesting. Does it work? :)

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#36

Post by 8ytecoder » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #14

rectang wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. I launch gmail in a site-specific browser process so that my login is isolated. This makes it so that in my main browser, I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. As a bonus, the "filter bubble" effect is diminished for my Google searches. That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience.

I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. If they see activity from one IP to say search, then activity from the same IP to visit the top result of that search, they don’t need a cookie to track you. Anyone who shares an IP has seen ads actually targeting another member of their household...

Usually that's not a reliable way to identify a unique user. Given the prevalence of NAT, re-using IPs by ISPs with DHCP, and a host of other reasons. (That's not to say there aren't ways to fingerprint users across devices and browsers.)

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#37

Post by zevv » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:03 PM UTC

rand0mthought wrote: post #19

Funny, but Privacy Badger blocked 10 trackers in this article

My ghostery blocked 24

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#38

Post by ibz » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:05 PM UTC

baxtr wrote: post #15

ucaetano wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. Well, that's your choice, isn't it? > That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience. Non-techies can just go the good ol' way and pay for an ad-free, tracking-free email service, mapping service, storage service, etc.

I’m not a google fan, but can you name one free service that is par? I think many people would en pay if there was an alternative

I am paying for FastMail for a few years now. It's a very good alternative, and it's really not expensive. Also, I know that my money goes into building an alternative with a viable business model.

Plus, GMail isn't free. You pay for it with your data.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#39

Post by hanselot » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:07 PM UTC

rectang wrote: post #6

ucaetano wrote: post #3

Yes! Disable 3rd party cookies, delete your Google & Facebook accounts, and done. Easy peasy.

I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. I launch gmail in a site-specific browser process so that my login is isolated. This makes it so that in my main browser, I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. As a bonus, the "filter bubble" effect is diminished for my Google searches. That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience.

Additionally, consider that google has some advanced machine learning shit that can likely analyse your writing style. Even an antipattern is a pattern.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#40

Post by johncarmichael3 » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:07 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #30

randomString1 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that was enough. The articles that show up here on HN from time to time make me think they can cross-reference data and fingerprint you through many data sources and more advanced tracking (things that we discover from time to time like canvas, css). People that have you on their contact list, your e-mails that hit their servers even when you don't have a Gmail, DNS, CDN, cloud services, your phone unless you…

How difficult would it be to defeat fingerprinting by injection of noise? I.e. your browser configuration/characteristics change every now and then by a tiny amount.

Other than adnauseum which people have already mentioned, you might like User-Agent Switcher[1]. Not sure how useful it really is, but it is fun to see the differences between how a website designed to be browser specific renders in a incorrect browser.

[1] https://useragentswitcher.org/