9 ms·

Yes it's great from a marketer's point of view. From a consumer's point of view, I don't want you to know where I came from. I don't really care if it's useful

by volgo 9y ago

Yes it's great from a marketer's point of view. From a consumer's point of view, I don't want you to know where I came from. I don't really care if it's useful to you. It's the difference between pleasing marketers vs pleasing users. Firefox chose wisely

eli 9y ago
Honestly, I don't think path information is all that useful for marketers.
- epigramx 9y ago
  We overthink it when most of the tracking on the internet is based on simply your IP and occasionally a fingerprint of the browser(including any identification done by said browser). Since IPv4's inception that's all that was required and it was an extremely robust way to be tracked if you ask me. If you want to not be tracked you require a random/different IP and a browser fingerprint that blends with the crowd.
  - Feniks 9y ago
    Most people are on mobile nowadays so IP is becoming increasingly worthless.
    - sologoub 9y ago
      If only it was true... quite the opposite is the case at least in US: https://medium.com/@philipn/want-to-see-something-crazy-open-this-link-on-your-phone-with-wifi-turned-off-9e0adb00d024 https://medium.com/@philipn/want-to-see-something-crazy-open...
      - Feniks 9y ago
        Oh yeah the US is a lost case.
        sologoub 9y ago
        Don’t give up so easily. Anything can be changed, provided enough people want to change it. Most undesirable practices only happen because they operate in the shadow of general ignorance and/or oblivion to their existence. As generations that understand this tech implicitly come to power, things will change. To someone that does everything digitally the meaning of these words will be quite different than the currently accepted interpretation: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
      - Brakenshire 9y ago
        Just incredible this is legal.
- brianpan 9y ago
  When my traffic spikes to 5 hits in a day, it's nice to know where all those people are coming from besides just medium.com. What page exactly?
- maze-le 9y ago
  That strongly depends on the routing design of the web application. I could easily design a bad url-path that dicloses information that should be kept private...
jdavis703 9y ago
Good marketing does please users by delivering them products tailored to them that they may have never knew even existed.
- taneq 9y ago
  If I can go through your underpants drawer then I'll know the right kind of underpants to try and sell you. That means it's OK, right?
  - girvo 9y ago
    (Tangent, but I’ve never found this particular example compelling. All that’s in my underwear drawer is underwear... and I don’t find that particularly embarrassing? I think I’m missing some cultural context for it)
    - spiraldancing 9y ago
      In the US, at least, the underwear drawer is a popular place to hide other things ... eg, your illegal drug stash, or the engagement ring you bought, etc. I think there's also subtextual implications of nosing about in your sex life.
    - taneq 9y ago
      It's a mild, nonspecific stand-in for whatever it is that you really don't want people knowing. Whether that's your weird fetish or your embarrassing hobby or the fact that you worked as a pianist in a brothel or whatever.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Then ask the users from which page they came from, I'm sure they'll be happy to do that so that they can know about those great products.
  - dorgo 9y ago
    Nooo! Pleasee don't! It will be like these useless cookie warnings in EU all over www. I voluntary enable this path info if you spare me more popups.
saurik 9y ago
You seem to be arguing back, but this user was agreeing with you, saying this behavior should be for all browsing, not just "private" browsing.
- sincerely 9y ago
  Thanks for this comment, I initially misread their comment as well. I guess that speaks to how highly I think of people in that industry :P

by volgo 9y ago

eli 9y ago

Honestly, I don't think path information is all that useful for marketers.

epigramx 9y ago
We overthink it when most of the tracking on the internet is based on simply your IP and occasionally a fingerprint of the browser(including any identification done by said browser). Since IPv4's inception that's all that was required and it was an extremely robust way to be tracked if you ask me. If you want to not be tracked you require a random/different IP and a browser fingerprint that blends with the crowd.
- Feniks 9y ago
  Most people are on mobile nowadays so IP is becoming increasingly worthless.
  - sologoub 9y ago
    If only it was true... quite the opposite is the case at least in US: https://medium.com/@philipn/want-to-see-something-crazy-open-this-link-on-your-phone-with-wifi-turned-off-9e0adb00d024 https://medium.com/@philipn/want-to-see-something-crazy-open...
    - Feniks 9y ago
      Oh yeah the US is a lost case.
      - sologoub 9y ago
        Don’t give up so easily. Anything can be changed, provided enough people want to change it. Most undesirable practices only happen because they operate in the shadow of general ignorance and/or oblivion to their existence. As generations that understand this tech implicitly come to power, things will change. To someone that does everything digitally the meaning of these words will be quite different than the currently accepted interpretation: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
    - Brakenshire 9y ago
      Just incredible this is legal.
brianpan 9y ago
When my traffic spikes to 5 hits in a day, it's nice to know where all those people are coming from besides just medium.com. What page exactly?
maze-le 9y ago
That strongly depends on the routing design of the web application. I could easily design a bad url-path that dicloses information that should be kept private...

jdavis703 9y ago

Good marketing does please users by delivering them products tailored to them that they may have never knew even existed.

taneq 9y ago
If I can go through your underpants drawer then I'll know the right kind of underpants to try and sell you. That means it's OK, right?
- girvo 9y ago
  (Tangent, but I’ve never found this particular example compelling. All that’s in my underwear drawer is underwear... and I don’t find that particularly embarrassing? I think I’m missing some cultural context for it)
  - spiraldancing 9y ago
    In the US, at least, the underwear drawer is a popular place to hide other things ... eg, your illegal drug stash, or the engagement ring you bought, etc. I think there's also subtextual implications of nosing about in your sex life.
  - taneq 9y ago
    It's a mild, nonspecific stand-in for whatever it is that you really don't want people knowing. Whether that's your weird fetish or your embarrassing hobby or the fact that you worked as a pianist in a brothel or whatever.
icebraining 9y ago
Then ask the users from which page they came from, I'm sure they'll be happy to do that so that they can know about those great products.
- dorgo 9y ago
  Nooo! Pleasee don't! It will be like these useless cookie warnings in EU all over www. I voluntary enable this path info if you spare me more popups.

saurik 9y ago

You seem to be arguing back, but this user was agreeing with you, saying this behavior should be for all browsing, not just "private" browsing.

sincerely 9y ago
Thanks for this comment, I initially misread their comment as well. I guess that speaks to how highly I think of people in that industry :P