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Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

palant.info

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Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#61

Post by cptskippy »

alisonkisk wrote: post #57
cptskippy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rules are not applied equally. The playing field is NOT level. That's true, always has been. > big names just need to pull the right strings or call the right people for a free pass I'd be curious if that's the case. For the most part in B2B, "the rules" generally only apply when the risk of a client doesn't out weight the benefit of that client. T&C and Contracts are always negotiable, it's just a matter of if it'…

If you did exactly what Amazon did you'd be "evil", but they get a pass because they bought the companies they sell data to.

I'm not defending Amazon but what did they do that was evil? From what I read in the article, they were doing things a normal add-on developer isn't allowed to do, but that isn't inherently evil.

In a similar vein, your reasoning would conclude that white hat hackers are evil as well.

Having the power to do something bad, and doing something bad with that power are not equivalents.

Is it unfair that they received that power? Yes. Does that make it evil? No. Do I trust them? No.

I'm not defending Amazon, I'm questioning your reasoning because I don't arrive at the same conclusion.

Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#62

Post by smokelegend »

palant wrote: post #50
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #26

> Putting these JavaScript files into the extension would have been possible with almost no code changes The AMO team at Firefox used to outright ban addons with remote script injection. I guess it matters who you are -- like on the Apple App Store, big names just need to pull the right strings or call the right people for a free pass. Rules are not applied equally. The playing field is NOT level.

The AMO team used to review every submitted add-on. They no longer do, now it just says “This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing.” on virtually every add-on. They still enforce this policy, but usually only when someone reports an add-on violating it. I reported this add-on, we’ll see now when/how they take action. Note : I’m the author of this article a…

Thank you for your effort, great article to read.

Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#63

Post by m463 »

tobib wrote: post #49

Oh my. Who in their right mind would install that?! I just setup pihole today because it's so difficult to avoid being spied on wherever you go.

I remember, years ago, installing the amazon app on my phone.

And one day I was browsing a web page in safari and boom - it auto-launched the amazon app and opened it there?

That's when I learned about deep linking, where apps can snoop on ios website activity (in safari, in messages, in mail, etc).

Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#64

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

cptskippy wrote: post #61
alisonkisk wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you did exactly what Amazon did you'd be "evil", but they get a pass because they bought the companies they sell data to.

I'm not defending Amazon but what did they do that was evil? From what I read in the article, they were doing things a normal add-on developer isn't allowed to do, but that isn't inherently evil. In a similar vein, your reasoning would conclude that white hat hackers are evil as well. Having the power to do something bad, and doing something bad with that power are not equivalents. Is it unfair that they received tha…

Individuals in the US are not allowed to own machine guns except with extremely limited exceptions. Owning a machine gun does not inherently make one evil, so why can’t we own them?

Rhetorical question. You already know the answer.

Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#65

Post by mritun »

tantalor wrote: post #6
KoftaBob wrote: post #2

"Still, I was astonished to discover that Amazon built the perfect machinery to let them track any Amazon Assistant user or all of them: what they view and for how long, what they search on the web, what accounts they are logged into and more. Amazon could also mess with the web experience at will and for example hijack competitors’ web shops. Amazon Assistant log with a borg eye Image credits: Amazon, nicubunu, Open…

> before finding any evidence for it Did you see the screenshot with the Amazon ad popup obscuring Google ads?

You mean the screenshot that shows a browser window just about 400px wide in which page content is forced behind the notification window?

Yeah. I saw that too.

Disclosure: I work for Amazon but not anywhere close to the browser plugin team(s).

Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#66

Post by happyconcepts »

palant wrote: post #51
happyconcepts wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which browsers allow users to whitelist specific sites for access by a browser extension? Or else what is the !#?!% technology hurdle preventing users from making their own lists?

Chrome has this functionality, other Chromium-based browsers most likely as well. But how many users would actually manage access lists for extensions?

I will test out Chrome - thanks. Yet I was hopeful there'd be other choices.

I believe more than one user would actually manage access lists for extensions but you have asked a really loaded question given that browser users are not being given the choice here.

Re: Amazon Assistant lets Amazon track your every move on the web

#67

Post by cptskippy »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #64
cptskippy wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending Amazon but what did they do that was evil? From what I read in the article, they were doing things a normal add-on developer isn't allowed to do, but that isn't inherently evil. In a similar vein, your reasoning would conclude that white hat hackers are evil as well. Having the power to do something bad, and doing something bad with that power are not equivalents. Is it unfair that they received tha…

Individuals in the US are not allowed to own machine guns except with extremely limited exceptions. Owning a machine gun does not inherently make one evil, so why can’t we own them? Rhetorical question. You already know the answer.

> Individuals in the US are not allowed to own machine guns except with extremely limited exceptions.

That's not true. The laws vary by state with California being one of the most restrictive but other states like Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Mississippi having no restrictions at all.

Please don't spread misinformation.

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