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Did you know that every Opera install on windows and mac using the net-installer gets a uniquely modified exe or zip file with information about the download so
by Quai 7y ago
Did you know that every Opera install on windows and mac using the net-installer gets a uniquely modified exe or zip file with information about the download so that Opera can track where/why a browser was downloaded?
On windows they modify the PE header of the exe, and adds extra information to a certificate table at the end of the file, without affecting the signature of the file. (Last 4 bytes of the file gives the size of the payload, giving you the offset to start reading a string that starts with OPR followed by a base64 encoded string, which contains a checksum and a json object. The json object contains country of origin, http_referrer of the download, a timestamp, UTM-parameters seen on the referrer, the user agent and a uuid assigned to the download. This uuid is kept for the life time of the browser install.)
On mac, the process is a bit different, but there they use appledouble (._-meta files) to modify the zip-file on the fly while downloading including the same type of data.
- gnud 7y agoEveryone knows (or should know) Opera is adware/malware now, after the ownership changed. If you liked Opera, try Vivaldi. It's made by some ex-opera people, reminds me of good old Opera 6.
- geniium 7y agoYeah Vivaldi is the best browser experience I have tried recently. I have the Chrome engine, without all the Google trackers. And the best customizable experience (vertical tabs à la Firefox Tree Style Tab). Dropped Google Chrome and Firefox.
- onedr0p 7y agoWhat do you use for syncing bookmarks? That's one of the most infuriating thing about browsers that are not FF, Chrome or Safari. I want my bookmarks no matter what device I'm on. I could care less about other types of syncing.
- okamiueru 7y agoI use Vivaldi as my main browser, but more often than not, it becomes sluggish. Sometimes Windows fail draw, which is annoying.
- Quai 7y agoThis was implemented way before Opera changed ownership, and as far as I can see from the outside, not much has changed in this code. The main difference I see, is that they have removed the source IP from the JSON. So, if any, they are tracking less data in that data blob after they changed ownership. (I worked on this feature at Opera back in the days)
- danbruc 7y agoWhat was this information used for?
- Quai 7y agoStatistics. We wanted to know how different campaigns worked, how the user retention from different partners was, and also benchmark how well the autoupdate system worked. While I worked for Opera this was strictly for internal use, and a very limited set of people had access to logs and raw data.
- Quai 7y agoThe same ex-opera people was the master minds behind the netinstaller tracking :) I was not implying that Opera is any more adware/malware than any other software.
- anewguy9000 7y agoFUD
- ed_elliott_asc 7y agoI worked on an app that did this, you digitally sign the exe and the signature includes the length of the signed data but not the length of the exe - you can the append whatever you want at the end and read it when you run the executable. It is a great way to not have to resign every app but also allow for a “one click” install experience