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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

#41

Post by floatingatoll »

cs702 wrote: post #6

Doubtlessly, this will be rationalized and justified as being necessary for, and in the best interest of, consumers... ...but inevitably, it will be used for tracking -- regardless of intent. It might also get Google in trouble. Copying and pasting from the a comment in the OP's URL: > Example: https://www.youtube.com - in network headers, look for x-client-data > Now, go to https://ad.doubleclick.net/abc - and your…

Can Chrome extensions on the new proposed v3 standard remove that outbound request header?

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#42

Post by Cthulhu_ »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #16
janpot wrote: post #4

Not endorsing this, but according to https://www.google.com/chrome/privacy/whitepaper.html#variat... > We want to build features that users want, so a subset of users may get a sneak peek at new functionality being tested before it’s launched to the world at large. A list of field trials that are currently active on your installation of Chrome will be included in all requests sent to Google. This Chrome-Variations he…

Is there a reason for only sending this header to Google web properties and not all domains?

Is it because Google's webapps will have their own a/b tests which use experimental features only available in Chrome perhaps?

I mean personally I think they should do client-side feature detection and be back to being standards compliant and not creepy. The only reason why I'd consider such a flag is because they optimize the payload server-side to return a certain a/b test, but even with that they could do the default version first, do feature detection, and then set a session cookie for that domain only that loads the a/b test.

My other Thought was that they test a feature that is implemented across Google's properties, e.g. something having to do with their account management.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#44

Post by x0x0 »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #9

So, an extremely unique identifier for tracking purposes, that effectively no one knows exists, and no one knows can be changed at all? With an obscure white paper that allows Google to claim they comply with the law because "they totally offer a way to change that and they even published that information to the web for anyone to find"? Gotcha.

Are you talking about the same thing? Because the identifier above is claimed to have 13b of entropy. Is there another high entropy identifier?

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#45

Post by rvnx »

x0x0 wrote: post #44
TheRealPomax wrote: post #9

So, an extremely unique identifier for tracking purposes, that effectively no one knows exists, and no one knows can be changed at all? With an obscure white paper that allows Google to claim they comply with the law because "they totally offer a way to change that and they even published that information to the web for anyone to find"? Gotcha.

Are you talking about the same thing? Because the identifier above is claimed to have 13b of entropy. Is there another high entropy identifier?

13b, if usage statistics are disabled (not the default). Otherwise, unspecified amount of entropy.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#46

Post by reaperducer »

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.

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#48

Post by Cthulhu_ »

owaislone wrote: post #36

I visited my family a couple of weeks ago and was shocked when my father told me that his phone 'received' some of our photos. I checked and a huge chunk of whatsapp photos that were backed up by my wife's phone had ended up in my dad's Google Photos account. I discounted it as my wife accidentally sharing the whatsapp folder with my dad but now I'm not so sure.

Yup, that's one of the issues you'll get with interlinked accounts; in this case, Whatsapp backs up / stores photos automatically to your phone's photo gallery, and said photo gallery is automatically synchronized with the cloud.

I don't know exactly what's going on with your wife's / your father-in-law's accounts though, are they sharing Google accounts, photo albums, or were the photos shared in the same whatsapp group?

Re: Google tracks individual users per Chrome installation ID

#49

Post by tsukurimashou »

throwawa66 wrote: post #40
dgudkov wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla Corporation which makes the browser doesn't accept donations.

Do you know why that is?

because otherwise users would have a saying in the direction web browsers evolve and Google would be sad

Half kidding there

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