3 ms·

How is this possible at all? Don’t allow readout of canvas (or similar) at all without asking me if it’s ok. Problem solved. I don’t care if it becomes annoying

How is this possible at all? Don’t allow readout of canvas (or similar) at all without asking me if it’s ok. Problem solved. I don’t care if it becomes annoying on the off website that does have a valid use case for it. This just shouldn’t happen.

kevingadd 6y ago
Sadly this sort of readback is necessary for various features and scenarios, so disabling it across the board is a big hassle. Brave has an approach to this where they scramble the output some to undermine its usefulness for fingerprinting, at least.
- alkonaut 6y ago
  Again - I don’t care if it’s a hassle. It should be a hassle. If I’m on a web based image editor I accept the readout, if I’m on YouTube I definitely don’t.
- red_trumpet 6y ago
  > for various features and scenarios What would those be?
  - kevingadd 6y ago
    GPU compute (things like particle systems, video decoders, etc), video playback, UI compositing, etc
hogFeast 6y ago
There are some valid reasons for using fingerprinting. In the UK, gambling companies use fingerprinting to enforce exclusion lists (i.e. gambling addicts who self-exclude from gambling websites), and stop people from outside the UK gambling illegally (the latter is used generally, although desktop apps are generally more secure). I believe it is also used in online retail to combat bots (self-evidently, not everyone is doing this). I think it is a concern when websites use this kind of thing indiscriminately. I have worked in web development roles, and I have had devs tell me point blank (once, a lead dev) that fingerprinting is impossible whilst using products that expose their customers to fingerprinting...so it is important to be aware of it. But there are legitimate uses to fingerprinting specifically, exclusive of the APIs that some apps rely on certain features (i.e. WebGL). It is sometimes important to know who someone is.

kevingadd 6y ago

Sadly this sort of readback is necessary for various features and scenarios, so disabling it across the board is a big hassle. Brave has an approach to this where they scramble the output some to undermine its usefulness for fingerprinting, at least.

alkonaut 6y ago
Again - I don’t care if it’s a hassle. It should be a hassle. If I’m on a web based image editor I accept the readout, if I’m on YouTube I definitely don’t.
red_trumpet 6y ago
> for various features and scenarios What would those be?
- kevingadd 6y ago
  GPU compute (things like particle systems, video decoders, etc), video playback, UI compositing, etc

hogFeast 6y ago

There are some valid reasons for using fingerprinting. In the UK, gambling companies use fingerprinting to enforce exclusion lists (i.e. gambling addicts who self-exclude from gambling websites), and stop people from outside the UK gambling illegally (the latter is used generally, although desktop apps are generally more secure). I believe it is also used in online retail to combat bots (self-evidently, not everyone is doing this). I think it is a concern when websites use this kind of thing indiscriminately. I have worked in web development roles, and I have had devs tell me point blank (once, a lead dev) that fingerprinting is impossible whilst using products that expose their customers to fingerprinting...so it is important to be aware of it. But there are legitimate uses to fingerprinting specifically, exclusive of the APIs that some apps rely on certain features (i.e. WebGL). It is sometimes important to know who someone is.