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Do_not_track

donottrack.sh

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Re: Do_not_track

#91
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately, I've come across websites that instead of a cookie banner display a banner that states they recognize and honor my wish to not be tracked. Whether that really do or not is something I did not spend time looking into. The first time I saw it I thought it was a fluke, and then it happened a few more times with in a short time period. Couldn't tell you what sites they were though as it was just something from se…

Wow. I've never seen that. It would be great if it became more widespread. But isn't DNT deprecated in most browsers? Maybe I misremember.

::shrug:: I set it a long time ago and never looked back. I never looked into it being deprecated, but I knew that pretty much everyone ignored it for reasons. But by these banners, I'm guessing it still lives on as a setting.

Re: Do_not_track

#92

It's interesting that we're so used to be tracked at this point that no one balks at being opted-in by default. A flag called DO_NOT_TRACK sounds like a good idea, but also suggests the default is CONSENT_TO_TRACK=1, and I find that creepy.

Do not track WHEN? This flag is sent by my browser when I connect to SOMEONE ELSE’s SERVER. The internet only took off because the primary business model which ran on ads and derivative information that servers do to their users. It’s not fun. It’s not private or secure. It’s not illegal (in most jurisdictions for most industries). The flag exists as a response to the de facto and de jure state of the world, not some…

> The internet only took off because the primary business model which ran on ads and derivative information that servers do to their users.

quite the opposite I would argue:

https://nickyreinert.de/2020/2020-10-24-marketing-killed-the...

Re: Do_not_track

#93

It's interesting that we're so used to be tracked at this point that no one balks at being opted-in by default. A flag called DO_NOT_TRACK sounds like a good idea, but also suggests the default is CONSENT_TO_TRACK=1, and I find that creepy.

Do not track WHEN? This flag is sent by my browser when I connect to SOMEONE ELSE’s SERVER. The internet only took off because the primary business model which ran on ads and derivative information that servers do to their users. It’s not fun. It’s not private or secure. It’s not illegal (in most jurisdictions for most industries). The flag exists as a response to the de facto and de jure state of the world, not some…

You can have ads without tracking.

Re: Do_not_track

#94
I have some issue with how some of these are represented. For example, syncthing has an explicit opt-in request for telemetry / analytics. The suggested setting change is something entirely different - a call to ask what the latest version is. Granted, that server could log your IP address but that's no different to how it uses the relay and discovery servers that are also run by the same people - those could log the same way.

.. which is entirely different to the telemetry system where usage stats are reported. You can see that on data.syncthing.net. But again, thats a separate opt-in. The suggested env variable on the site won't turn that off.

Re: Do_not_track

#95

It's interesting that we're so used to be tracked at this point that no one balks at being opted-in by default. A flag called DO_NOT_TRACK sounds like a good idea, but also suggests the default is CONSENT_TO_TRACK=1, and I find that creepy.

Do not track WHEN? This flag is sent by my browser when I connect to SOMEONE ELSE’s SERVER. The internet only took off because the primary business model which ran on ads and derivative information that servers do to their users. It’s not fun. It’s not private or secure. It’s not illegal (in most jurisdictions for most industries). The flag exists as a response to the de facto and de jure state of the world, not some…

> The internet only took off because the primary business model which ran on ads and derivative information that servers do to their users.

Arguable, on the other hand it did kill the internet. (or, almost so far, we'll see whether we rebound after decades of enshittification)

Re: Do_not_track

#96
I personally do not use this. The reason is quite simple: I do not want to give out ANY information to external sites. Meaning, they could want to group me into "wants to be tracked" and "does not want to be tracked". I expect a general content blocker, which ublock origin is, to protect me from any malicious external actor, including horrible UI, such as nowadays google search has. I mean, just make a regular google search and then ask yourself why google places so many ads. Yes, ALL links to videos on youtube are also google ads - they self-promote themselves here.

We kind of need ublock origin on the operating system level - even more so as the new laws mandate age sniffing of everyone, tied to usage and access to the www (see the concomitant fight against VPN; that is the long road here, the "but but but the children!" is the lie, the cake, the carrot on the stick).

Ultimately one could ask "but the do not track thing is harmless" - the issue still is that I don't agree that my browser should betray me. Naturally since Google controls most browsers, can we trust Google? But, even aside from Google, can we trust other browsers? We need more diversity here again, but also more quality on every level. I consider the do_not_track as actually a you_will_be_marked and thus tracked.

Re: Do_not_track

#97

It's interesting that we're so used to be tracked at this point that no one balks at being opted-in by default. A flag called DO_NOT_TRACK sounds like a good idea, but also suggests the default is CONSENT_TO_TRACK=1, and I find that creepy.

I actually consider such a flag to be problematic. I don't want to give out any information - of course I never want to be tracked, but marking this via an ENV variable alone, already makes zero sense to me. I don't understand people who like that while claiming they do not want to be tracked; if they give that information, then this means they are marked.

Re: Do_not_track

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an inherent conflict. No one _wants_ to be tracked, there is no direct benefit to being tracked and only downsides. And advertisers want to track you. So there was no way to respect the flag other than making it obscure so only a few dedicated people turned it on.

To play devils advocate there is a direct benefit to being tracked, at least theoretically search and ads will more relevant to you. I get no one wants ads but you do see ads here and there. It would arguably be better for you if everyone of them was relevant than not. Similarly search or even LLM answers could be better if the preferences of the asker are known No, in not making excuses for tracking and I do lots of…

> theoretically > they believe

Exactly. From my experience: the times I've found an ad relevant and worth clicking is about one-to-a-gazillion. Maybe relevance is higher for others but that still doesn't necessarily translate to real value. (ie. your life was improved in any way)

Also, this all presumes the targeting actually works and the current sea ads for shoes I just bought disagree with that. It's all just spam.

Re: Do_not_track

#99

Was wondering if there was a list of known opt outs as we are looking at a default opt out in Renovate[0] - we'll also look to set `DO_NOT_TRACK` [0]: https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate/discussions/42932

Here is a non comprehensive list of mine: https://makandracards.com/makandra/624560-disable-telemetry-...
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