4 ms·

I fail to see this as any more harmful than the auto updating feature. I understand the concern of multiple avenues to phone home as being worse than one, but i

I fail to see this as any more harmful than the auto updating feature. I understand the concern of multiple avenues to phone home as being worse than one, but it's negligible considering it's the same company. Coupled with all of their other services for security incidents, prediction, auto correct, spelling, usage stats, dangerous page warnings, etc, I think it's just another log on the fire and not worth being concerned about specifically.

Ph0X 10y ago
It actually is almost nothing like the auto updating feature. Finch is mainly used for A/B testing. It doesn't push actual updates, all it does it turn existing features (flags) on and off. It's used for quickly A/B testing or incremental rolling new features and is designed to be more agile.
- wfunction 10y ago
  That means it uniquely identified you to Google every day then, right?
  - phreack 10y ago
    Always assume so with Google products.
    - wfunction 10y ago
      What about Chromium?
      - vurpo 10y ago
        Chromium never uses Finch except if you specify it in the command line flags.
        wfunction 10y ago
        Thanks!
  - gcb0 10y ago
    > using a Google browser > not wanting to be tracked here's a hint: ad impression for unknown user is 0.01$ and for logged in user 2$. guess why Google has a browser now...
    - wfunction 10y ago
      Do you mean logged into Chrome (e.g. profile sync)? or just logged into Gmail?
      - gcb0 10y ago
        does not matter at all. if you have a logged-off cookie, and the publisher can associate you with a logged-in user at a near point in time, they can charge you as logged in impression.
  - gsnedders 10y ago
    Does it? Does the request actually provide enough to uniquely identify you?
    - yuhong 10y ago
      Source code: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/components/variations/service/variations_service.cc https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/comp...
xg15 10y ago
The biggest difference I see is the speed. You're right, it doesn't make a difference from a technical point of view but it illustrates again just how much power they have over chrome - and thereby over the web: They can push a policy update to the bigger part of Chrome's userbase in 24 hours. It should be entertaining when car makers use the same strategy: "Oh yeah, we have this system where everytime you turn the ignition, your car polls us and updates its assistant, motor, steering and airbag settings. Don't worry though, we mostly just use it for randomized tests and field trials."

Ph0X 10y ago

It actually is almost nothing like the auto updating feature. Finch is mainly used for A/B testing. It doesn't push actual updates, all it does it turn existing features (flags) on and off. It's used for quickly A/B testing or incremental rolling new features and is designed to be more agile.

wfunction 10y ago
That means it uniquely identified you to Google every day then, right?
- phreack 10y ago
  Always assume so with Google products.
  - wfunction 10y ago
    What about Chromium?
    - vurpo 10y ago
      Chromium never uses Finch except if you specify it in the command line flags.
      - wfunction 10y ago
        Thanks!
- gcb0 10y ago
  > using a Google browser > not wanting to be tracked here's a hint: ad impression for unknown user is 0.01$ and for logged in user 2$. guess why Google has a browser now...
  - wfunction 10y ago
    Do you mean logged into Chrome (e.g. profile sync)? or just logged into Gmail?
    - gcb0 10y ago
      does not matter at all. if you have a logged-off cookie, and the publisher can associate you with a logged-in user at a near point in time, they can charge you as logged in impression.
- gsnedders 10y ago
  Does it? Does the request actually provide enough to uniquely identify you?
  - yuhong 10y ago
    Source code: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/components/variations/service/variations_service.cc https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/comp...

xg15 10y ago

The biggest difference I see is the speed. You're right, it doesn't make a difference from a technical point of view but it illustrates again just how much power they have over chrome - and thereby over the web: They can push a policy update to the bigger part of Chrome's userbase in 24 hours. It should be entertaining when car makers use the same strategy: "Oh yeah, we have this system where everytime you turn the ignition, your car polls us and updates its assistant, motor, steering and airbag settings. Don't worry though, we mostly just use it for randomized tests and field trials."