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> E.g., can't browsers prevent tracking cookies (without breaking other cookie uses, like sessions)? No, because tracking cookies don't necessarily advertise
by craftyguy 8y ago
> E.g., can't browsers prevent tracking cookies (without breaking other cookie uses, like sessions)?
No, because tracking cookies don't necessarily advertise themselves as such. Browser extensions that block tracking cookies are blocking cookies that have been identified by humans to be tracking cookies. It's more reactive than proactive.
- weberc2 8y agoDon't tracking cookies work because cookies are forwarded across domains? If so, what would be the consequence of browsers only sending cookies to the domain that 'owns' them in the first place? If there is some reasonable functionality, perhaps these should be regarded as opt-in, for example: "foobar.com is requesting access to cookies from ads.google.com. foobar.com says it uses these cookies to enable feature X. Allow access? <Y/N>".
- tossimba 8y agofoobar.com never has access to cookies from google.com. when requests are sent to google.com, cookies are added. when you load google.com, JS can access the google.com cookies. google analytics: google.com tracking cookie is to identify the user. the js in the page knows the current website and tells google "im here". the dominance of google analytics and adsense means users are tracked wherever they go (because google is always there and recording)
- thisacctforreal 8y agoHowever, the browser can choose not to send any cookies to google.com when making requests to google from mycuteblog.com. It's known as blocking third-party cookies, a setting in most browsers. It does sometimes break when auth flows use separate domains to hold auth cookies, and other valid use-cases.