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Your browser is drugged and forcefully robbed, at this point - not asked nicely. Something like uBlock/Easyprivacy is your browser saying no and refusing, but n

by dylz 8y ago

Your browser is drugged and forcefully robbed, at this point - not asked nicely. Something like uBlock/Easyprivacy is your browser saying no and refusing, but now I see providers trying everything possible to identify you and try to bypass everything on this. I've seen providers attempt to access your GPU info, fingerprint you via 3D rendering, all sorts of disgusting stuff. They attempt to enumerate megabytes worth of plugin names and mimetypes, load Flash, Shockwave, Java, Silverlight, Windows Media, anything to exfil as much data as they can about you. They buy thousands or tens of thousands of random domains, subdomains, and attempt all of them if they fail. They act like malware. They serve fake sourcemaps that try to track the fact that you attempted to investigate them, and use this against you. I've seen ads _port scan you and your LAN via websocket_ after using RTCPeerConnection and enumerating your local IPs. I can think of many companies that do this immediately on first page load, silently, before you get a chance to read their ToS or opt out. There is no opt out. They serve this code with CNAMEs and via reverse proxies for first-party cookie access and adblock bypassing.

rpcope1 8y ago
With as much insanity seems to come with the modern web (and "smart" devices), I feel like there might be a (niche) market for going back to something like Gopher (or a newer, similar variant) where I am imagine this sort of tracking and profiling is harder (and hopefully the content has a higher signal to noise ratio, and is more like the original grassroots web).
- nine_k 8y ago
  Turn JavaScript off entirety, only enable it to specific sites. Works 80% of the time, though. Many sites do client-side JS-based rendering.
  - squiggleblaz 8y ago
    The goal is to not be part of the spyweb and to have another separate safe space. Following your suggestion you get: (a) to be part of the spyweb - so they can still track you via web requests (b) not part of an independent net - so there isn't a higher proportion of signal, because the content generators are the same and targeted at generating adrevenue, not independent hobbiests sharing information about their interests. Consequently I don't think it will work. Gopher would work in the sense that you would notice the transition from a gopher site to a web site.
fouric 8y ago
This is terrifying, and I want to know more. Would you mind listing a few companies that do this, or perhaps provide a link to a place where I can find more information?
brodsky 8y ago
most of those i suspected or was aware of, but the last two (sourcemaps, websockets) are bone-chilling. I'd like to know more. also, in your opinion, how effective is Ghostery against this vermin?
- dylz 8y ago
  Not very as far as I can tell. I use EasyPrivacy + uBlock with a huge amount of wildcard rules - rules that did not work well with ABP (before uBlock came along; ABP would choke and cause 10 second load times). People are basically being employed to arms-race any defenses, so you get that kind of development speed.
- TheCapeGreek 8y ago
  Keep in mind Ghostery was bought out by an ad agency. Use alternatives like Privacy Badger (or others, I'm not too clued up on the main players in that plugin space right now).
deleted 8y ago
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by dylz 8y ago

rpcope1 8y ago

With as much insanity seems to come with the modern web (and "smart" devices), I feel like there might be a (niche) market for going back to something like Gopher (or a newer, similar variant) where I am imagine this sort of tracking and profiling is harder (and hopefully the content has a higher signal to noise ratio, and is more like the original grassroots web).

nine_k 8y ago
Turn JavaScript off entirety, only enable it to specific sites. Works 80% of the time, though. Many sites do client-side JS-based rendering.
- squiggleblaz 8y ago
  The goal is to not be part of the spyweb and to have another separate safe space. Following your suggestion you get: (a) to be part of the spyweb - so they can still track you via web requests (b) not part of an independent net - so there isn't a higher proportion of signal, because the content generators are the same and targeted at generating adrevenue, not independent hobbiests sharing information about their interests. Consequently I don't think it will work. Gopher would work in the sense that you would notice the transition from a gopher site to a web site.

fouric 8y ago

This is terrifying, and I want to know more. Would you mind listing a few companies that do this, or perhaps provide a link to a place where I can find more information?

brodsky 8y ago

most of those i suspected or was aware of, but the last two (sourcemaps, websockets) are bone-chilling. I'd like to know more. also, in your opinion, how effective is Ghostery against this vermin?

dylz 8y ago
Not very as far as I can tell. I use EasyPrivacy + uBlock with a huge amount of wildcard rules - rules that did not work well with ABP (before uBlock came along; ABP would choke and cause 10 second load times). People are basically being employed to arms-race any defenses, so you get that kind of development speed.
TheCapeGreek 8y ago
Keep in mind Ghostery was bought out by an ad agency. Use alternatives like Privacy Badger (or others, I'm not too clued up on the main players in that plugin space right now).

deleted 8y ago

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