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Just abolish third-party cookies as a concept. Problem solved. It's that simple. All browsers already have a setting whether to accept third-party cookies. It'

Just abolish third-party cookies as a concept. Problem solved. It's that simple. All browsers already have a setting whether to accept third-party cookies. It's just a matter of changing its default value.

ratherbefuddled 5y ago
You can be tracked without cookies (or localstorage) trivially, it is commonplace. You'd have to block requests to third parties. This is hard because it breaks most websites - all those that rely on cdns. You can wade through this with a script blocker like ublock origin and a whitelist but you don't really know what's happening unless you investigate each domain and script. Even then you'd still be exposed to fingerprint tracking served through the original domain passing on to a third party at the back end. Tracking isn't fixable with technological solutions alone.
- LadyCailin 5y ago
  People suggesting a user-based solution to this problem is like someone suggesting “well, you should just comprehensively read the terms of service and privacy policy for every website and product you use, and if you don’t agree, don’t use the site.” It’s an absurdly naive solution at best, and downright malicious solution at worst. In any case, people who believe this should be in the hands of the user don’t give a shit about the user, either actually or practically.
olliej 5y ago
No. It absolutely is not. It's been the default in Safari since day one. It is necessary but insufficient, because otherwise tracking Safari users would never have been possible. Despite that WebKit has had to consistently devote engineering effort into making these privacy invasions impossible. WebKit, and I think Firefox now?, had to do further work to isolate same domain cookies to specific contexts. At the same time there is Chrome, aggressively pushing new features that often happen to add new tracking mechanisms. Google and Facebook depend on invading user privacy, that is their primary source of income. If there is any way they can track you, they will use it. The only solution is legal, coupled with actual enforcement.

ratherbefuddled 5y ago

You can be tracked without cookies (or localstorage) trivially, it is commonplace. You'd have to block requests to third parties. This is hard because it breaks most websites - all those that rely on cdns. You can wade through this with a script blocker like ublock origin and a whitelist but you don't really know what's happening unless you investigate each domain and script. Even then you'd still be exposed to fingerprint tracking served through the original domain passing on to a third party at the back end. Tracking isn't fixable with technological solutions alone.

LadyCailin 5y ago
People suggesting a user-based solution to this problem is like someone suggesting “well, you should just comprehensively read the terms of service and privacy policy for every website and product you use, and if you don’t agree, don’t use the site.” It’s an absurdly naive solution at best, and downright malicious solution at worst. In any case, people who believe this should be in the hands of the user don’t give a shit about the user, either actually or practically.

olliej 5y ago

No. It absolutely is not. It's been the default in Safari since day one. It is necessary but insufficient, because otherwise tracking Safari users would never have been possible. Despite that WebKit has had to consistently devote engineering effort into making these privacy invasions impossible. WebKit, and I think Firefox now?, had to do further work to isolate same domain cookies to specific contexts. At the same time there is Chrome, aggressively pushing new features that often happen to add new tracking mechanisms. Google and Facebook depend on invading user privacy, that is their primary source of income. If there is any way they can track you, they will use it. The only solution is legal, coupled with actual enforcement.