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Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

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Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#31

Post by 3xblah »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #20

This is literally, one among many reasons (ha!), why I use Firefox. Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari and Chrome have done recently with their new "security" policies. This is also why I don't use a VPN I don't run (or certainly not one that hasn't been audited with a good reputation), and I certainly would never fucking dream of using a free…

"Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, ..."

Not the one that authored the text-only browser I am typing this from.

Whether Mozilla turns a profit or not makes little difference in this instance. Mozilla does not survive on donations from users. Its employees are not volunteers working for free to defend user privacy. Its generously compensated executives and staff need money from the online ad business, just like employees from the other browser vendors. If Mozilla stopped taking money from Google or some other online ad business partner, then Mozilla employees would lose their jobs.

Maybe of interest: https://dustri.org/b/mozilla-is-still-screwing-around-with-p...

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#32

Post by [deleted] »

risyachka wrote: post #29

Sensor tower is a mobile intelligence tool. Correct me if I am missing something, but what is a big deal here? And when you use free apps, obviously they sell your data (or with a high chance), they are not charities. But in return, you get hassle-free ad-blocking or VPN. It looks like a fair deal to me. Or you can find a good one that will be expensive, or do it yourself (paying the same or more, just with your time…

[deleted]

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#33

Post by Dylan16807 »

saagarjha wrote: post #22
Dylan16807 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you are describing is not a VPN extension, and it's not a MitM proxy.

It's a solution for content filtering.

It's a solution for some situations, but not the one userbinator was talking about.

The problem here is needing to trust the filter program. Moving code into a sandbox doesn't help, because you still need an app outside the sandbox to make it actually filter, and the problem is not being able to trust an app.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#34

Post by saagarjha »

BubRoss wrote: post #27
saagarjha wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a solution for content filtering.

A VPN is for hiding your IP address, not filtering. Whatever goes through the VPN, the VPN controller sees.

On iOS, general content filtering needs to go through a VPN extension.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#36

Post by saagarjha »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #33
saagarjha wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a solution for content filtering.

It's a solution for some situations, but not the one userbinator was talking about. The problem here is needing to trust the filter program. Moving code into a sandbox doesn't help, because you still need an app outside the sandbox to make it actually filter, and the problem is not being able to trust an app .

I mean, you really can't trust that the app just isn't a dud and does nothing. But with sandboxing you can prevent the app from reporting your browsing history.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#37

Post by Dylan16807 »

3xblah wrote: post #31
rubyn00bie wrote: post #20

This is literally, one among many reasons (ha!), why I use Firefox. Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, and as such will limit good ad-blocking measures as Safari and Chrome have done recently with their new "security" policies. This is also why I don't use a VPN I don't run (or certainly not one that hasn't been audited with a good reputation), and I certainly would never fucking dream of using a free…

"Every other browser vendor is a for-profit entity, ..." Not the one that authored the text-only browser I am typing this from. Whether Mozilla turns a profit or not makes little difference in this instance. Mozilla does not survive on donations from users. Its employees are not volunteers working for free to defend user privacy. Its generously compensated executives and staff need money from the online ad business,…

I think they're talking about browsers that actually implement most of the spec.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#38

Post by Dylan16807 »

saagarjha wrote: post #36
Dylan16807 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a solution for some situations, but not the one userbinator was talking about. The problem here is needing to trust the filter program. Moving code into a sandbox doesn't help, because you still need an app outside the sandbox to make it actually filter, and the problem is not being able to trust an app .

I mean, you really can't trust that the app just isn't a dud and does nothing. But with sandboxing you can prevent the app from reporting your browsing history.

No...

You have X inside a sandbox. It has the filtering logic, and can't report home. Cool.

But you need Y outside the sandbox so that your content actually gets filtered. Without Y, your "filtering app" does nothing. You need code that is outside the sandbox.

But how do we set up Y? In the context of a mobile device, Y would have to be a VPN app.

But the original problem is that we can't trust VPN apps to do what they say.

So even though you moved the actual filtering logic into X, and put it in a secure sandbox, you didn't solve the problem of needing to trust an app.

(And "put Y into the trusted OS" is not a valid solution toward getting filtering on "locked-down mobile platforms".)

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#39

Post by saagarjha »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #38
saagarjha wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you really can't trust that the app just isn't a dud and does nothing. But with sandboxing you can prevent the app from reporting your browsing history.

No... You have X inside a sandbox. It has the filtering logic, and can't report home. Cool. But you need Y outside the sandbox so that your content actually gets filtered. Without Y, your "filtering app" does nothing. You need code that is outside the sandbox. But how do we set up Y? In the context of a mobile device, Y would have to be a VPN app. But the original problem is that we can't trust VPN apps to do what th…

Again, you can't trust that the app actually does filtering, because as you said the filter list is loaded and evaluated by code that has no obligation to do this. But it can't track your internet browsing because the component that could, the VPN extension, is inside a sandbox.

Re: Sensor Tower owns ad blocker and VPN apps that collect user data

#40

Post by Dylan16807 »

saagarjha wrote: post #39
Dylan16807 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No... You have X inside a sandbox. It has the filtering logic, and can't report home. Cool. But you need Y outside the sandbox so that your content actually gets filtered. Without Y, your "filtering app" does nothing. You need code that is outside the sandbox. But how do we set up Y? In the context of a mobile device, Y would have to be a VPN app. But the original problem is that we can't trust VPN apps to do what th…

Again, you can't trust that the app actually does filtering, because as you said the filter list is loaded and evaluated by code that has no obligation to do this. But it can't track your internet browsing because the component that could, the VPN extension, is inside a sandbox.

You can put most of the code in a sandbox.

But the part of the code that does the vpn CANNOT be inside a sandbox. It has to interface with actual connections.

If you sandbox 100% of the code, it doesn't work.

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