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Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

techcrunch.com

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Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#91

Post by [deleted] »

yladiz wrote: post #37
tptacek wrote: post #29

This is great, but unfortunately, until Apple ups its browser security game, Safari is a non-starter. On macOS, switching from any other browser to Chrome is in the top 3 things you can do to materially improve your security in ways that actually matter in the real world.

Can you give specific examples why Chrome is significantly better than other browsers, including Firefox, Opera? Chrome is a non starter for me because of its resource usage and battery hunger. One specific area where Safari is better than Chrome is in private browsing mode. In Safari, each tab is completely separate, and the cookies aren't shared (as far as I can tell) whereas in Chrome, it's only separate as a whol…

[deleted]

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#92

Post by tptacek »

moogleii wrote: post #89
tptacek wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it isn't.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Safari-5-1-Protects-Users-wit...

Just because both features are named "sandbox" doesn't make them equivalent; the exact same argument says you should also be happy to run hostile Java applets, which, after all, are sandboxed.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#93

Post by ksk »

icelancer wrote: post #61
dbbk wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually really concerning to me. If they blocked Google Analytics, it would severely damage that data. It'd be bad news for site owners who just want to quantify their traffic.

....so? Site owners are not guaranteed this access; their script runs on the client computer. I say this as someone who does a lot of analytical research and re-targeting and would be hurt if this was rolled out on a larger scale; I just don't think I have a right to the data.

Well, if don't care about things that prevent you from doing your job, then what exactly is the point of working in that field?

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#94

Post by tptacek »

euroclydon wrote: post #65
tptacek wrote: post #29

This is great, but unfortunately, until Apple ups its browser security game, Safari is a non-starter. On macOS, switching from any other browser to Chrome is in the top 3 things you can do to materially improve your security in ways that actually matter in the real world.

So battery life or security, take your pick?

I'm not saying it doesn't suck. But it's going to keep sucking as long as people are willing to pretend that Safari already has comparable security to Chrome.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#95

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

dbbk wrote: post #40
tyingq wrote: post #27

The big question to me is whether it's enabled by default, and whether it blocks requests to Google Analytics. If so, that's an interesting shot across the bow.

This is actually really concerning to me. If they blocked Google Analytics, it would severely damage that data. It'd be bad news for site owners who just want to quantify their traffic.

The article says (my emphasis):

> segregate the _cross-site_ scripting data

So if you "just want to quantify your traffic", use self-hosted Piwik (i.e. not cross-site), as many of us do already.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#96

Post by tyingq »

magicalist wrote: post #59
tyingq wrote: post #27

The big question to me is whether it's enabled by default, and whether it blocks requests to Google Analytics. If so, that's an interesting shot across the bow.

What would it block? The JS file? Analytics only sets a cookie on the site using it, not one that works across sites.

Cookies are one way to track users. They are not the only one. Google Analytics is so ubiquitous...I can't see Google missing the opportunity to leverage it.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#97

Post by ksk »

ceejayoz wrote: post #17
binthere wrote: post #16

Later they demoed they can track your interests in what you've read on the web to show you personalized news on their news app and keyboard autocompletion.

That'd be first -party tracking. If I'm using an Apple app I expect Apple to know it, but I don't necessarily expect Mixpanel or Google Analytics or Segment.

The net result is the same regardless of whether it's an expectation in one case versus an outrage in the other.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#98

Post by mbel »

jaegerpicker wrote: post #88
tyingq wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm overly paranoid, but I assume Google does all sorts of fingerprinting (documented and not) via GA. Why else would it be free if it didn't provide a big upside for Google?

Only a limited subset is free. More advanced types of tracking requires the pro subscription.

Isn't it like this that all data is gathered anyway, but site owner can access the more advanced tracers with paid subscriptions?

I don't intent to provoke FUD, I seriously don't know. This would sound like rational choice for Google since they need this data to run their business.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#99

Post by tpush »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #60
ch4ck wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet Explorer has tracking protection since IE9.

Going to my IE right now to activate it, I have to say this is a janky solution. It opens the Add-ons window, where you can see you have no Tracking Protection Lists. Then you can click to browse the add-on gallery for them, and then you have to scroll down and pick a list from a set of options. While this is flexible, open, and that's all good, the lack of a common sense default and a multi-step setup process is pro…

"it's gonna make a huge dent in Google Analytics' numbers".

Very unlikely, since almost nobody uses desktop Safari.

Re: Apple adds a tracker blocker to desktop Safari

#100

Post by cptskippy »

dkonofalski wrote: post #58
cptskippy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're joking right? Factory reset your iPhone sometime and note all of the prompts to share and access your data. The only difference between MS and Apple is that Microsoft made the mistake of presenting everything all on one screen instead of breaking it up over 5 or 10 prompts as you use the device.

There's a huge difference between being asked if it's ok to share your data and just sharing it by default. Additionally, Apple doesn't offer any kind of way for anyone but you to decrypt your data.

So you've never actually installed Windows 10 then? Because from the beginning it's asked for permission to share your data for things like Cortona, the touch keyboard, ink, voice, etc. Based on user response they've evolved the interface and made it clearer removing anti-patterns.

This is the same stuff Apple asks for permissions on.

Microsoft doesn't let you turn off telemetry data entirely. Things like hardware configurations and installed drivers are still send, albeit anonymously so that Microsoft can better support the OS.

Again Apple does something similar. Spotlight and Safari send data back to Apple even when you're making queries against other services (e.g. DuckDuckGo Searches). And like Microsoft, there's no UI to disabled it.

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