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Spot on. Opting out of the weaponized, automated surveillance machine is not really possible. I do block FB, Google and a bunch of others at the IP level. Ther

by _jal 8y ago

Spot on. Opting out of the weaponized, automated surveillance machine is not really possible. I do block FB, Google and a bunch of others at the IP level. There are fallbacks, but I do end up leaking when they stand up new IP blocks, and the smaller surveillance shops are impossible to keep up with. I also pee in their datasets sometimes, but that's a more experimental/entertainment activity. And I'm playing with some other ideas not ready for prime time. > how can there be a balance of power between the individual and large organizations seeking to exploit everyone's data? Regulation. That's what you do with antisocial behavior, negative externalities and worse. The transnational nature of the net adds complications and freeholds, but the big boys absolutely could be brought to heel, if people wanted to. Politically, the winds seem to be blowing in the other direction in the US, and the GDPR has been argued to death here. But that's how the situation improves. (It will never be "fixed", absent an event that destroys the ability to run networks.)

FredFS456 8y ago
Any more info (eg. tools + source) on how to pee in their datasets?
- drcharris 8y ago
  I think a very effective way is to get much better control over your cookies, when you allow them to be set, under which conditions, on which sites. I use a combination of CookieBro and Umatrix on Firefox for this. Cookies are only allowed for sites I actively want to log into. For sites that require cookies to function, periodic auto-deletion via CookieBro handles those.
- _jal 8y ago
  I shouldn't overstate what I'm doing - this is largely an exercise in reversing what they're doing. And when I figure it out I might have a little fun by way of verifying I figured something out. Tools - I use Charles Proxy and perl with WWW::Mechanize (substitute your recreational language of choice). Sometimes JMeter is helpful, but that's kind of a rathole if you haven't had reason to subject yourself to it before.

by _jal 8y ago

FredFS456 8y ago

Any more info (eg. tools + source) on how to pee in their datasets?

drcharris 8y ago
I think a very effective way is to get much better control over your cookies, when you allow them to be set, under which conditions, on which sites. I use a combination of CookieBro and Umatrix on Firefox for this. Cookies are only allowed for sites I actively want to log into. For sites that require cookies to function, periodic auto-deletion via CookieBro handles those.
_jal 8y ago
I shouldn't overstate what I'm doing - this is largely an exercise in reversing what they're doing. And when I figure it out I might have a little fun by way of verifying I figured something out. Tools - I use Charles Proxy and perl with WWW::Mechanize (substitute your recreational language of choice). Sometimes JMeter is helpful, but that's kind of a rathole if you haven't had reason to subject yourself to it before.