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Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

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Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#31

Post by the_gipsy »

samspenc wrote: post #3

Related tweet from Paul Graham: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1699021936573940154 "If you go to chrome://settings/adPrivacy you can turn off the spyware that got inserted into the latest version of Chrome." And I found PaulG's tweet from this earlier Hacker News discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37392517

At some point you would have to set a weekly (daily?) reminder to turn off all new sell-out "features" that get added. Also, at some point those "features" stop being an option you can opt-out.

The real solution is switching to Firefox.

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#33

Post by Traubenfuchs »

samspenc wrote: post #3

Related tweet from Paul Graham: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1699021936573940154 "If you go to chrome://settings/adPrivacy you can turn off the spyware that got inserted into the latest version of Chrome." And I found PaulG's tweet from this earlier Hacker News discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37392517

> You can block sites that you don't want. Chrome also auto-deletes sites that are older than 30 days from the list.

> You can block topics that you don’t want to be shared with sites. Chrome also auto-deletes your topics that are older than four weeks.

Wow, they really went all out here in regards to actively user hostile patterns!

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#34

Post by gloryjulio »

jtriangle wrote: post #10
samspenc wrote: post #3

Related tweet from Paul Graham: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1699021936573940154 "If you go to chrome://settings/adPrivacy you can turn off the spyware that got inserted into the latest version of Chrome." And I found PaulG's tweet from this earlier Hacker News discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37392517

Or you could... use any other chromium based browser that doesn't do this. Might I suggest Vivaldi? It's nice, lots of built in features that you probably are running extensions for currently.

Just use brave. I only use chrome to watch videos when I need Nvidia Video Super Resolution for low res videos because brave has a performance bug supporting this feature

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#35

Post by petargyurov »

Is this is a privacy win for anyone using a non-Chrome/ium browser? Given the majority of the population use Chrome, will most websites stop relying on cookies and instead use the Topics API?

Though I suppose cookies will always be a fallback option if the website detects that the browser doesn't support the Topics API...

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#37

Post by dgan »

bbor wrote: post #23
Zetobal wrote: post #20

It's getting to the point were I am really questioning the characters of people that still work at Google. I mean some of the people implementing and designing this shit must be right here. Is it really just the money?

Many of them think they’re supporting the free and open internet. I can promise you that many ad engineers take privacy very seriously, and from their perspective, google is leading the charge on less invasive Display ad tech. I seriously doubt the people in this thread will agree with any of that, but I thought I’d answer the question. Of course, the money helps too - Google just recently laid off thousands of worke…

On another spectrum, RuZZians invading Ukraine right now are really thinking they are "liberating" it.

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#38

Post by Tistron »

tazjin wrote: post #29
scopeh wrote: post #17

Its 2023, how have we come so far with this nonsense. I would have thought Firefox would be king of the browsers by now. But nope, people love their data being sucked up and used by the big G.

Firefox is just less usable. It's slower and a lot of config options are missing. Stuff that is common in enterprises and has buttons in Chrome (e.g. "add the intranet search to your browser!") is hard in Firefox (you have to write and serve a specific XML file somewhere). Also it has a big incredible redesign every 2 weeks, as far as I can tell from HN, while Chrome's UI is mostly boring and stable.

Yeah. For me, the main feature that has me use chrome instead is that it can remember my credit card details. I don't understand how it can be that firefox doesn't do this, it's so annoying.

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#39

Post by tacker2000 »

tobr wrote: post #2

Just got this blocking modal. In mine, the title says “Turn on an ad privacy feature”. That is misleading to say the least. This is a privacy-invading feature, leaking summaries of my browsing history to anyone who wants to have a look. What’s worse, the modal completely blocks the UI, so you can’t even search for it to understand more. Why am I even using this browser anymore? EDIT: Note this section about privacy g…

Im sorry but if you are using Chrome as a “pro” nowadays, its your own fault. There are countless alternatives available, starting from Firefox, to Brave, to some exotic browsers, and if you must use Chrome, then there is a de-Googled one called Chromium.

Its clear that Google is milking every single one of its users using their browser, since they have access to your computers.

Probably this is the “vector” they use to gather the most info about users, apart from Android maybe.

Re: Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting

#40

Post by tgv »

bbor wrote: post #23
Zetobal wrote: post #20

It's getting to the point were I am really questioning the characters of people that still work at Google. I mean some of the people implementing and designing this shit must be right here. Is it really just the money?

Many of them think they’re supporting the free and open internet. I can promise you that many ad engineers take privacy very seriously, and from their perspective, google is leading the charge on less invasive Display ad tech. I seriously doubt the people in this thread will agree with any of that, but I thought I’d answer the question. Of course, the money helps too - Google just recently laid off thousands of worke…

> from their perspective, google is leading the charge on less invasive Display ad tech

That would require levels of cognitive dissonance rarely seen outside fraudulent politicians. But that's phrasing it sarcastically, something best avoided in conversations. Bluntly put: indeed, I don't believe you. You cannot work for Google/Alphabet, where 80% of revenue ($183 billion in 2020!) comes from ads, and believe you're doing privacy a favor.

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