7 ms·

Internet Explorer has tracking protection since IE9.

by ch4ck 9y ago

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
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 probably why like... even I am not using this right now. If Apple does this by default, it's gonna make a huge dent in Google Analytics' numbers, whereas probably almost nobody uses the feature in IE.
- tpush 9y ago
  "it's gonna make a huge dent in Google Analytics' numbers". Very unlikely, since almost nobody uses desktop Safari.
  - cpeterso 9y ago
    This feature will surely show up in iOS Safari, which would have a big impact.
    - alwillis 9y ago
      It's already in iOS 11 beta: https://twitter.com/webkit/status/871834286286139392 https://twitter.com/webkit/status/871834286286139392
  - gchokov 9y ago
    Lol.
  - alwillis 9y ago
    It’s obviously not true that nobody uses Safari on Apple’s laptops and desktops. Apple’s Mac sales have doubled since 2008 and is in the top 5 when it comes to PC shipments: http://www.asymco.com/2016/11/02/wherefore-art-thou-macintosh/ http://www.asymco.com/2016/11/02/wherefore-art-thou-macintos... Shipping ~30 million Macs a year certainly isn't almost nobody.
    - piyush_soni 9y ago
      He isn't talking about the number of macs sold though. Market share of Desktop Safari according to NetMarketShare [0] in May 2017 was 3.56%. [0] : https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0&qpcustomd=0 https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qpr...
      - alwillis 9y ago
        Web advertising is such a cutthroat and low margin business that having 2–3% of all browser users become untrackable is a big deal. Safari on iOS obviously has significantly higher market share on mobile and the intelligent tracker blocking is part of iOS 11 beta.
        piyush_soni 9y ago
        Yes, it will be a big deal when it comes to mobile.
- amt528 9y ago
  If you're interested, I created and maintain a tracking protection list based on the Ghostery and Disconnect filter lists. It's concise, fast, and better than anything in the IE gallery. https://amtopel.github.io/tpl/ https://amtopel.github.io/tpl/
  - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
    IE isn't really a browser I use heavily personally. Has Microsoft carried the feature forward to Edge, or are they relying on extensions from the Store for that?
    - amt528 9y ago
      They discontinued it in Edge, unfortunately.
      - addicted 9y ago
        But you can install extensions like ghostery that so the same things in edge
        PokeAcer 9y ago
        But you shouldn't have to install extensions to do this..
miles 9y ago
They are completely different beasts. Internet Explorer merely offers the option to enable[1] "Do Not Track", which websites and advertisers are free to ignore[2], while Safari's new ad tracker blocker "uses machine learning to identify trackers, segregate the cross-site scripting data, put it away so now your privacy — your browsing history — is your own"[3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Internet_Explorer_10_default_setting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Internet_Explorer... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Effectiveness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Effectiveness [3] https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/05/apple-adds-a-tracker-blocker-to-desktop-safari/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/05/apple-adds-a-tracker-block...
- k-mcgrady 9y ago
  Also worth pointing out that Safari has had the 'do not track' feature for years and Twitter recently announced they are going to start ignoring it (a good example of how useless it is). So this new protection is very necessary and a great USP for Safari.
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  You are actually incorrect. Tracking Protection refers to an IE feature that lets you set "Tracking Protection Lists", which block traffic to specified domains and URLs. You can see a bit about them here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh273400(v=vs.85).aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh273400(v=vs.85).a... The whole "Do Not Track" default thing was, of course, a huge fiasco, as Google and others chose to ignore IE's default usage of it.
  - amt528 9y ago
    I don't know why this has been downvoted. Tracking Protection Lists are one of the best and unsung features of IE. People don't realize that they're different from Do Not Track.
    - Flimm 9y ago
      Do you have to set it up manually? How is this better than downloading one of the privacy-protecting extensions available for most desktop browsers?
pippy 9y ago
Most sites don't obey the do not track header. Edge on the other hand is much more nefarious, by default it sends all data sent by POST requests to Microsoft. I was surprised to find Bing sending data from people who use Edge on my site to try and improve their search results. There are so many security and privacy issues with this it's not funny at all.
- Flimm 9y ago
  I've never heard that Edge sends absolutely all POST requests to any website to Microsoft as well. Could you share an article or something proving this?

Internet Explorer has tracking protection since IE9.

by ch4ck 9y ago

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 probably why like... even I am not using this right now. If Apple does this by default, it's gonna make a huge dent in Google Analytics' numbers, whereas probably almost nobody uses the feature in IE.

tpush 9y ago
"it's gonna make a huge dent in Google Analytics' numbers". Very unlikely, since almost nobody uses desktop Safari.
- cpeterso 9y ago
  This feature will surely show up in iOS Safari, which would have a big impact.
  - alwillis 9y ago
    It's already in iOS 11 beta: https://twitter.com/webkit/status/871834286286139392 https://twitter.com/webkit/status/871834286286139392
- gchokov 9y ago
  Lol.
- alwillis 9y ago
  It’s obviously not true that nobody uses Safari on Apple’s laptops and desktops. Apple’s Mac sales have doubled since 2008 and is in the top 5 when it comes to PC shipments: http://www.asymco.com/2016/11/02/wherefore-art-thou-macintosh/ http://www.asymco.com/2016/11/02/wherefore-art-thou-macintos... Shipping ~30 million Macs a year certainly isn't almost nobody.
  - piyush_soni 9y ago
    He isn't talking about the number of macs sold though. Market share of Desktop Safari according to NetMarketShare [0] in May 2017 was 3.56%. [0] : https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0&qpcustomd=0 https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qpr...
    - alwillis 9y ago
      Web advertising is such a cutthroat and low margin business that having 2–3% of all browser users become untrackable is a big deal. Safari on iOS obviously has significantly higher market share on mobile and the intelligent tracker blocking is part of iOS 11 beta.
      - piyush_soni 9y ago
        Yes, it will be a big deal when it comes to mobile.
amt528 9y ago
If you're interested, I created and maintain a tracking protection list based on the Ghostery and Disconnect filter lists. It's concise, fast, and better than anything in the IE gallery. https://amtopel.github.io/tpl/ https://amtopel.github.io/tpl/
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  IE isn't really a browser I use heavily personally. Has Microsoft carried the feature forward to Edge, or are they relying on extensions from the Store for that?
  - amt528 9y ago
    They discontinued it in Edge, unfortunately.
    - addicted 9y ago
      But you can install extensions like ghostery that so the same things in edge
      - PokeAcer 9y ago
        But you shouldn't have to install extensions to do this..

miles 9y ago

They are completely different beasts. Internet Explorer merely offers the option to enable[1] "Do Not Track", which websites and advertisers are free to ignore[2], while Safari's new ad tracker blocker "uses machine learning to identify trackers, segregate the cross-site scripting data, put it away so now your privacy — your browsing history — is your own"[3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Internet_Explorer_10_default_setting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Internet_Explorer... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Effectiveness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track#Effectiveness [3] https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/05/apple-adds-a-tracker-blocker-to-desktop-safari/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/05/apple-adds-a-tracker-block...

k-mcgrady 9y ago
Also worth pointing out that Safari has had the 'do not track' feature for years and Twitter recently announced they are going to start ignoring it (a good example of how useless it is). So this new protection is very necessary and a great USP for Safari.
ocdtrekkie 9y ago
You are actually incorrect. Tracking Protection refers to an IE feature that lets you set "Tracking Protection Lists", which block traffic to specified domains and URLs. You can see a bit about them here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh273400(v=vs.85).aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh273400(v=vs.85).a... The whole "Do Not Track" default thing was, of course, a huge fiasco, as Google and others chose to ignore IE's default usage of it.
- amt528 9y ago
  I don't know why this has been downvoted. Tracking Protection Lists are one of the best and unsung features of IE. People don't realize that they're different from Do Not Track.
  - Flimm 9y ago
    Do you have to set it up manually? How is this better than downloading one of the privacy-protecting extensions available for most desktop browsers?

pippy 9y ago

Most sites don't obey the do not track header. Edge on the other hand is much more nefarious, by default it sends all data sent by POST requests to Microsoft. I was surprised to find Bing sending data from people who use Edge on my site to try and improve their search results. There are so many security and privacy issues with this it's not funny at all.

Flimm 9y ago
I've never heard that Edge sends absolutely all POST requests to any website to Microsoft as well. Could you share an article or something proving this?