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Buried in that article is this very fun and creepy link: https://genesis.malwarebytes.com/api/v1/wai.gif https://genesis.malwarebytes.com/api/v1/wai.gif Not s

by numair 5y ago

Buried in that article is this very fun and creepy link: https://genesis.malwarebytes.com/api/v1/wai.gif https://genesis.malwarebytes.com/api/v1/wai.gif Not sure I would ever trust any privacy claims from a company that stores this type of made-for-fingerprinting data.

blitzar 5y ago
that is a really handy gif.
Lex-2008 5y ago
looks like geoIP database - for me it gives almost same data as https://www.ip2location.com/demo/ https://www.ip2location.com/demo/
- bb101 5y ago
  It doesn't seem to be. MWB's location for me is much more accurate, I'm thinking Google?
  - Jamie9912 5y ago
    For me it returns the same result as Cloudflare, and they are using Maxmind
  - iruoy 5y ago
    I think it's one of their paid versions[0] with a few addons[1][2]. [0] https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-precision-city-service https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-precision-city-service [1] https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-isp-database https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-isp-database [2] https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-connection-type-database https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-connection-type-database
  - metalliqaz 5y ago
    For me it's more accurate (in the correct state) but still off by a lot (several towns over)
Terretta 5y ago
Risky click disclosure: The GIF isn’t a GIF, it’s a JSON response containing full geo-location data on the requestor. > Not sure I would ever trust any privacy claims from a company that stores this type of made-for-fingerprinting data. Reminder that every resource you request from anywhere causes the server to be able to index all this info on you. Anyone doing anything where audience matters has a subscription to MaxMind GeoIP lookup, giving you all this info inline on every request. There is nothing special about this GIF except it shows you the info the server has. If it bothers you, the idea of servers having all this info tying your requests together, you can switch on “Private Relay (Beta)” on MacOS and iOS, but note that the beta doesn’t play nice with a custom profile for DNS (it will look up once for filtering, and again for private relay).
- numair 5y ago
  There is a principle I live by, that most people used to live by before we entered this strange neo-savage era: “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” I expect the same from the companies with which I do business.
  - IanSanders 5y ago
    The only rational thing to expect from a company is to aim to be profitable, I suppose
    - oarsinsync 5y ago
      In the MoviePass (and lesser so, WeWork) era, I'm not sure those are rational expectations anymore either.
    - skrebbel 5y ago
      This is a pretty nihilistic view of capitalism and I think we can aim to be better. FWIW I know plenty companies that try to be a good company and not just a profitable one.
  - AniseAbyss 5y ago
    Did we? I believe Oppenheimer was overruled on Hiroshima.
JohnFen 5y ago
I'm 100% sure that I don't trust any company who feels the need to hide their data collection mechanism as a gif (or anything else).
x86_64Ubuntu 5y ago
How does anyone ever find such things in sea of minimized JS?
- dekerta 5y ago
  The network tab in the browser's dev tools will show you all of the resources loaded, including shady fake gifs
peterkelly 5y ago
You do realise that web servers often store logs of all requests, right? Those log records include the requesting IP address, from which all this information is derived.

by numair 5y ago

blitzar 5y ago

that is a really handy gif.

Lex-2008 5y ago

looks like geoIP database - for me it gives almost same data as https://www.ip2location.com/demo/ https://www.ip2location.com/demo/

bb101 5y ago
It doesn't seem to be. MWB's location for me is much more accurate, I'm thinking Google?
- Jamie9912 5y ago
  For me it returns the same result as Cloudflare, and they are using Maxmind
- iruoy 5y ago
  I think it's one of their paid versions[0] with a few addons[1][2]. [0] https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-precision-city-service https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-precision-city-service [1] https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-isp-database https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-isp-database [2] https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-connection-type-database https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-connection-type-database
- metalliqaz 5y ago
  For me it's more accurate (in the correct state) but still off by a lot (several towns over)

Terretta 5y ago

Risky click disclosure: The GIF isn’t a GIF, it’s a JSON response containing full geo-location data on the requestor. > Not sure I would ever trust any privacy claims from a company that stores this type of made-for-fingerprinting data. Reminder that every resource you request from anywhere causes the server to be able to index all this info on you. Anyone doing anything where audience matters has a subscription to MaxMind GeoIP lookup, giving you all this info inline on every request. There is nothing special about this GIF except it shows you the info the server has. If it bothers you, the idea of servers having all this info tying your requests together, you can switch on “Private Relay (Beta)” on MacOS and iOS, but note that the beta doesn’t play nice with a custom profile for DNS (it will look up once for filtering, and again for private relay).

numair 5y ago
There is a principle I live by, that most people used to live by before we entered this strange neo-savage era: “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” I expect the same from the companies with which I do business.
- IanSanders 5y ago
  The only rational thing to expect from a company is to aim to be profitable, I suppose
  - oarsinsync 5y ago
    In the MoviePass (and lesser so, WeWork) era, I'm not sure those are rational expectations anymore either.
  - skrebbel 5y ago
    This is a pretty nihilistic view of capitalism and I think we can aim to be better. FWIW I know plenty companies that try to be a good company and not just a profitable one.
- AniseAbyss 5y ago
  Did we? I believe Oppenheimer was overruled on Hiroshima.

JohnFen 5y ago

I'm 100% sure that I don't trust any company who feels the need to hide their data collection mechanism as a gif (or anything else).

x86_64Ubuntu 5y ago

How does anyone ever find such things in sea of minimized JS?

dekerta 5y ago
The network tab in the browser's dev tools will show you all of the resources loaded, including shady fake gifs

peterkelly 5y ago

You do realise that web servers often store logs of all requests, right? Those log records include the requesting IP address, from which all this information is derived.