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The behavior is disabled in private browsing. That suggests some acknowledgement of a privacy risk. What is creepy here is that a random website which I closed

The behavior is disabled in private browsing. That suggests some acknowledgement of a privacy risk. What is creepy here is that a random website which I closed ten minutes ago get to know when I unplug my ethernet cable. I am happy to tell a website when I close it - that is its purview. But when I close a website I want it to be closed. Now I know it lingers.

NaturalPhallacy 6y ago
>I am happy to tell a website when I close it - that is its purview. No it isn't. As far as I'm concerned a well behaved website/page isn't even going to have a live connection once everything is loaded. Provided it's not a video stream or something. If data the user requested isn't actively being transferred there shouldn't be a connection.
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  >Provided it's not a video stream or something. there are lots of "or something" out there to require live connections.
  - johannes1234321 6y ago
    Yes, there are. But for a huge number of sites there isn't.
    - foota 6y ago
      Subsequent page loads? SSL initiation is slow because of round trip times.
      - tyfon 6y ago
        I'd take the "slow" load any day over live connections to the web page. Not sure if a human could even notice it, when I load HN over SSL it is virtually instant.
        WJW 6y ago
        HN honors `Connection: keep-alive`, so this probably does not mean what you think it does.
      - johannes1234321 6y ago
        Even if I take that as an argument it is relevant during the initial load, while fetching the assets. (Also mind: reduce number of assets, improve caching of assets etc.) But for that the connection doesn't have to be kept up longer. For the next click it's almost neglectable.
      - Dylan16807 6y ago
        Now we've gone in a circle. Because as was already said, if you're holding a connection open in case of future loads, the most private way is to always keep it open for the same amount of time.
    - jhanschoo 6y ago
      By usage I disagree; I think most usage is rich content. Even news sites refresh their advertisements. (Of course, today they do a lot others, but I'm mentioning a case that most should agree is justified)
- tatersolid 6y ago
  > As far as I'm concerned a well behaved website/page isn't even going to have a live connection once everything is loaded. HTTP 1.1 specified the “Connection: Keep-Alive” header two decades ago, and it has been in widespread use ever since. It’s a fairly critical performance optimization.
- EricE 6y ago
  Want to have some fun? Look into WebRTC https://webrtcforthecurious.com https://webrtcforthecurious.com
SahAssar 6y ago
I'd guess the reason it's disabled in private browsing is because when you close the private window it's supposed to clean up the tracks of what sites you visited while doing private browsing, not that it leaks more information to the site.
gruez 6y ago
>What is creepy here is that a random website which I closed ten minutes ago get to know when I unplug my ethernet cable. Not really, since the connections aren't kept around forever[1], and can be closed for a variety of other reasons (eg. closing the browser), so it's a really poor indicator of "ethernet unplugged". If anything, since nothing's being sent over the connection, it's impossible to distinguish between "ethernet unplugged", "computer going to sleep/hiberate", or "middlebox killing idle connection". [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26565134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26565134

NaturalPhallacy 6y ago

>I am happy to tell a website when I close it - that is its purview. No it isn't. As far as I'm concerned a well behaved website/page isn't even going to have a live connection once everything is loaded. Provided it's not a video stream or something. If data the user requested isn't actively being transferred there shouldn't be a connection.

bryanrasmussen 6y ago
>Provided it's not a video stream or something. there are lots of "or something" out there to require live connections.
- johannes1234321 6y ago
  Yes, there are. But for a huge number of sites there isn't.
  - foota 6y ago
    Subsequent page loads? SSL initiation is slow because of round trip times.
    - tyfon 6y ago
      I'd take the "slow" load any day over live connections to the web page. Not sure if a human could even notice it, when I load HN over SSL it is virtually instant.
      - WJW 6y ago
        HN honors `Connection: keep-alive`, so this probably does not mean what you think it does.
    - johannes1234321 6y ago
      Even if I take that as an argument it is relevant during the initial load, while fetching the assets. (Also mind: reduce number of assets, improve caching of assets etc.) But for that the connection doesn't have to be kept up longer. For the next click it's almost neglectable.
    - Dylan16807 6y ago
      Now we've gone in a circle. Because as was already said, if you're holding a connection open in case of future loads, the most private way is to always keep it open for the same amount of time.
  - jhanschoo 6y ago
    By usage I disagree; I think most usage is rich content. Even news sites refresh their advertisements. (Of course, today they do a lot others, but I'm mentioning a case that most should agree is justified)
tatersolid 6y ago
> As far as I'm concerned a well behaved website/page isn't even going to have a live connection once everything is loaded. HTTP 1.1 specified the “Connection: Keep-Alive” header two decades ago, and it has been in widespread use ever since. It’s a fairly critical performance optimization.
EricE 6y ago
Want to have some fun? Look into WebRTC https://webrtcforthecurious.com https://webrtcforthecurious.com

SahAssar 6y ago

I'd guess the reason it's disabled in private browsing is because when you close the private window it's supposed to clean up the tracks of what sites you visited while doing private browsing, not that it leaks more information to the site.

gruez 6y ago

>What is creepy here is that a random website which I closed ten minutes ago get to know when I unplug my ethernet cable. Not really, since the connections aren't kept around forever[1], and can be closed for a variety of other reasons (eg. closing the browser), so it's a really poor indicator of "ethernet unplugged". If anything, since nothing's being sent over the connection, it's impossible to distinguish between "ethernet unplugged", "computer going to sleep/hiberate", or "middlebox killing idle connection". [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26565134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26565134