3 ms·

15-20 years ago, we found that people that were aggressive online and harassing people often cleared their cookies too. That constant clearing of cookies had us

15-20 years ago, we found that people that were aggressive online and harassing people often cleared their cookies too. That constant clearing of cookies had us look into using flash to hold cookies, since that data didn't really get deleted when you cleared your cookies in the browser. So there is something to be said about that issue. That said, Apple/Mozilla/etc know this and so they are simultaneously trying to make fingerprinting more difficult. If they were not, I would agree with Google's stance. But since they are, it is really more of a footnote.

SilasX 7y ago
I remember in the days of MSN gaming zone (zone.com, c. 1999), I was a vicious troll, and I'm pretty sure MS used their control of the OS to enforce a machine ban, as every attempt to use it from my home desktop was blocked. Also, somewhere in the Windows system registry I found a list of all the screen names I used.
qbaqbaqba 7y ago
> 15-20 years ago, we found that people that were aggressive online and harassing people often cleared their cookies too. You forgot to mention them abusing children and planing terror attacks.
- sroussey 7y ago
  Acting like children, sure. No terror stuff, but plenty of anti-Semitic material.
eitland 7y ago
> 15-20 years ago, we found that people that were aggressive online and harassing people often cleared their cookies too. This might very well be true for what I know, but the general idea that optional privacy leads to more hostile environments seems to have been conclusively destroyed by HN and certain other forums, especially when compared to Facebook.
- sroussey 7y ago
  We had a million communities, and learned a lot about how people act and react. Trolls, spammers, and people with some severe mental problems. FB is interesting in that you would think that it would inhibit all bad behavior since you are using a real name. But really, people don’t care quite so much. Much improved though! Well, except for the bots, hacked accounts, and bad actors. From the standpoint of dealing with crap messages, there are no silver bullets. But there are tools. Not everyone knows how to snowshoe, so you can have a decent win with even simple blocks.

SilasX 7y ago

I remember in the days of MSN gaming zone (zone.com, c. 1999), I was a vicious troll, and I'm pretty sure MS used their control of the OS to enforce a machine ban, as every attempt to use it from my home desktop was blocked. Also, somewhere in the Windows system registry I found a list of all the screen names I used.

qbaqbaqba 7y ago

> 15-20 years ago, we found that people that were aggressive online and harassing people often cleared their cookies too. You forgot to mention them abusing children and planing terror attacks.

sroussey 7y ago
Acting like children, sure. No terror stuff, but plenty of anti-Semitic material.

eitland 7y ago

> 15-20 years ago, we found that people that were aggressive online and harassing people often cleared their cookies too. This might very well be true for what I know, but the general idea that optional privacy leads to more hostile environments seems to have been conclusively destroyed by HN and certain other forums, especially when compared to Facebook.

sroussey 7y ago
We had a million communities, and learned a lot about how people act and react. Trolls, spammers, and people with some severe mental problems. FB is interesting in that you would think that it would inhibit all bad behavior since you are using a real name. But really, people don’t care quite so much. Much improved though! Well, except for the bots, hacked accounts, and bad actors. From the standpoint of dealing with crap messages, there are no silver bullets. But there are tools. Not everyone knows how to snowshoe, so you can have a decent win with even simple blocks.