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Your claim was about fingerprinting via Google’s scripts on other websites. Such a thing cannot be concealed. JavaScript code is visible. Even if the code is ob

Your claim was about fingerprinting via Google’s scripts on other websites. Such a thing cannot be concealed. JavaScript code is visible. Even if the code is obfuscated, experts can still detect if fingerprinting is performed.

autoexec 4y ago
Maybe it's changed since it's been a long time since I blocked all that stuff entirely, but I thought the idea was that websites collected a bunch of data about you, your browser, and your activities (using JS) which all gets sent back to google. Google processes that data and delivers analytics reporting back to the website owners. If google were also using the data they collected to generate a device fingerprint to compare against data collected and reported at other sites you would never know. That'd be in addition to them logging the sites you visited and when as well as your IP address and user agent which they get just by remotely hosting those scripts.
- zagrebian 4y ago
  Google Analytics does not collect any information that could identify the user.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - autoexec 4y ago
    Your IP address and a timestamp are enough to give google a pretty good idea who you are in many cases. If you log into any one of their services or use one of their products using that same IP address it's a pretty strong indicator. It takes surprisingly little "non-identifiable information" to figure out someone's identify. (for example: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10933-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10933-3) I'm pretty sure google has enough data to put 1 and 1 together the vast majority of the time.
    - zagrebian 4y ago
      That’s another big claim. If Google did this covertly, and it was found out, Google’s reputation would be in the toilet. That’s why I think they don’t do it.
      - autoexec 4y ago
        I don't think companies care about their reputation at all. Fear for their reputation didn't stop DuPont from knowingly poisoning people. It didn't stop Gerber from selling baby food loaded with dangerous levels of lead and other heavy metals. Wasn't google caught illegally collecting hundreds of gigabytes of data from wifi networks already? They don't care. EDIT: Yep https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/ https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/ Also https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-leads-bipartisan-coalition-suing-google https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-leads-bipartisan-coalit... If you're counting on fear of possible embarrassment or bad press to keep companies honest you're in for a bad time. Legal or not, if something will make a company money, they will do that thing.

autoexec 4y ago

Maybe it's changed since it's been a long time since I blocked all that stuff entirely, but I thought the idea was that websites collected a bunch of data about you, your browser, and your activities (using JS) which all gets sent back to google. Google processes that data and delivers analytics reporting back to the website owners. If google were also using the data they collected to generate a device fingerprint to compare against data collected and reported at other sites you would never know. That'd be in addition to them logging the sites you visited and when as well as your IP address and user agent which they get just by remotely hosting those scripts.

zagrebian 4y ago
Google Analytics does not collect any information that could identify the user.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- autoexec 4y ago
  Your IP address and a timestamp are enough to give google a pretty good idea who you are in many cases. If you log into any one of their services or use one of their products using that same IP address it's a pretty strong indicator. It takes surprisingly little "non-identifiable information" to figure out someone's identify. (for example: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10933-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10933-3) I'm pretty sure google has enough data to put 1 and 1 together the vast majority of the time.
  - zagrebian 4y ago
    That’s another big claim. If Google did this covertly, and it was found out, Google’s reputation would be in the toilet. That’s why I think they don’t do it.
    - autoexec 4y ago
      I don't think companies care about their reputation at all. Fear for their reputation didn't stop DuPont from knowingly poisoning people. It didn't stop Gerber from selling baby food loaded with dangerous levels of lead and other heavy metals. Wasn't google caught illegally collecting hundreds of gigabytes of data from wifi networks already? They don't care. EDIT: Yep https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/ https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/ Also https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-leads-bipartisan-coalition-suing-google https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-leads-bipartisan-coalit... If you're counting on fear of possible embarrassment or bad press to keep companies honest you're in for a bad time. Legal or not, if something will make a company money, they will do that thing.