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Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

lauren.vortex.com

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Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#41

Post by lionhearted »

mtigas wrote: post #18

tldr: Author is referring to the ability to enable the "ask me every time a site wants to set a cookie" prompt ( a la Firefox). Looks like this has been disabled in the latest Chrome nightly. FUD, etc. However: In general, cookie controls are still entirely there , so I'm positive that specific feature is what they're referring to. I use an extensive cookie domain blocklist and that's all there and functional. (I've…

> I use an extensive cookie domain blocklist and that's all there and functional.

Care to share a rough overview of sites you're blocking, and a little of your reasoning? I tried putting fairly restrictive settings on Firefox one time to see how browsing differed - I noted a lot of sites didn't work without explicit permissions, so that's sort of a hassle. Beyond that, is it privacy considerations? Do you work in a field that you wouldn't want your browsing habits logged and cross-referenced? Vagueness on answer is ok, I'm just kind of curious what your reasoning is, and if there's any utility to me building some kind of blocklist for myself.

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#42

Post by losvedir »

mtigas wrote: post #18

tldr: Author is referring to the ability to enable the "ask me every time a site wants to set a cookie" prompt ( a la Firefox). Looks like this has been disabled in the latest Chrome nightly. FUD, etc. However: In general, cookie controls are still entirely there , so I'm positive that specific feature is what they're referring to. I use an extensive cookie domain blocklist and that's all there and functional. (I've…

> Author is referring to the ability to enable the "ask me every time a site wants to set a cookie" prompt (a la Firefox)

Agreed. I just did "About Google Chrome" and saw that a new version was available - 7.0.517.24. Crap! Worried I would lose my cookie settings, I quit and restarted, and saw that they were there safe and sound. Only that option to prompt for each website was gone.

I had tried that option for a while but it didn't work quite right -- for certain websites it would continually prompt, "Accept Cookie?" No. "Accept Cookie?" No. etc.

When I clicked the "more info" part of the prompt, it looked like the website was trying to set a different cookie each time -- one that expires tomorrow, one next month, next year, etc.

So it may be a problem with the website, rather than Chrome. Regardless, the behavior was annoying so I selected "Block" all cookies and went with a whitelist, so this missing option doesn't bother me.

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#43

Post by Tichy »

flipbrad wrote: post #39
Tichy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Key thing is really to disallow third party cookies, as that (among other things) is what is being used to track you by all the advertisers, spammers, Facebookers and so on out there.

what will the response to this be? Could the site host set a cookie that then (from the server) is read and the content reported directly to the advertiser?

Certainly - I have been waiting for that kind of thing for a long time. Probably it already exists. However, it would be considerably more difficult to integrate into existing web sites.

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#45

Post by patio11 »

1337p337 wrote: post #38
modeless wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how Chrome has worked since forever, and it's a good thing. Asking the user for confirmation for security updates leads directly to users running known-insecure versions of software. If you don't want auto-updates, use Chromium.

...Or a different browser. Seriously, though, Google is used to web development, where they control the software and the machines running it. A new version of GMail rolls out, and everyone gets it. Like in the case of Buzz, this isn't always good, but it makes developers' lives easier. But desktop applications are a different game. Almost any time you take control away from the user, it's bad. New version of the brow…

Users of b2c software are incapable of making decisions about their security, and should not be asked to.

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#46

Post by DennisP »

flipbrad wrote: post #39
Tichy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Key thing is really to disallow third party cookies, as that (among other things) is what is being used to track you by all the advertisers, spammers, Facebookers and so on out there.

what will the response to this be? Could the site host set a cookie that then (from the server) is read and the content reported directly to the advertiser?

Sure. But a third-party cookie does more than track your activities on the site that gave it to you. If you get a DoubleClick cookie, then DoubleClick will be able to track you on every site that runs DoubleClick ads. Ie., they'll be able to tell that the same computer is hitting all these sites. This lets them target ads to you based on your whole history across all DoubleClick-serving sites, and to market your profile to their customers.

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#47

Post by DennisP »

aj wrote: post #4
stretchwithme wrote: post #3

The author says google is pushing out new versions of the browser automatically now. I was pretty sure I didn't enable the automatic updating feature but when I checked "About Chrome", I was informed that the browser had been updated. Seems to be no way to disable this either. Am I missing something?

Yes, that is a feature that Google has hardcoded into Chrome. You CANNOT disable auto-updates or even make it so that you are asked for confirmation.

Then why is my Chrome still on version 3?

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#48

Post by rmc »

modeless wrote: post #12
stretchwithme wrote: post #3

The author says google is pushing out new versions of the browser automatically now. I was pretty sure I didn't enable the automatic updating feature but when I checked "About Chrome", I was informed that the browser had been updated. Seems to be no way to disable this either. Am I missing something?

This is how Chrome has worked since forever, and it's a good thing. Asking the user for confirmation for security updates leads directly to users running known-insecure versions of software. If you don't want auto-updates, use Chromium.

I use Chromium installed with apt. All my software on my computer gets updated automatically :)

Re: Google Removes Cookie Control from Chrome

#49

Post by rmc »

gaius wrote: post #19
modeless wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how Chrome has worked since forever, and it's a good thing. Asking the user for confirmation for security updates leads directly to users running known-insecure versions of software. If you don't want auto-updates, use Chromium.

Imagine the howls if Microsoft had done this...

It would be brilliant! If MS did this then IE6 would have dissappeared long ago!
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