5 ms·

Incognito mode is supposed to not send your regular cookies so sites shouldn't be able to track you unless they use dubious stealthy tricks rather than the expl

Incognito mode is supposed to not send your regular cookies so sites shouldn't be able to track you unless they use dubious stealthy tricks rather than the explicit well-known and documented method (i.e. a cookie). While I know that it's possible, I think it's morally despicable and I expect better from established (and ostensibly honorable) companies like Google. The fact that they now basically say "cookies or not, we're gonna track you anyway" sounds to me like another step in the downfall of Google.

redcobra762 3y ago
“Downfall” seems a bit dubious of a term here, Google is doing just fine…
- carlossouza 3y ago
  Google is far from doing just fine. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was it destroyed by a single incident or individual. The downfall of empires gradually happens over years... decades... But make no mistake: the sign of the first derivative is negative.
  - redcobra762 3y ago
    Sorry but this seems like wishcasting to me; Alphabet’s stock is up 46% yoy, beating the market by 30%+. I think it’s at an all-time high, even. Any day now though, right?
  - thfuran 3y ago
    The first derivative of what exactly? Certainly not their stock price. And not their quarterly revenue either, nor even YoY growth.
Kalium 3y ago
> Incognito mode is supposed to not send your regular cookies so sites shouldn't be able to track you unless they use dubious stealthy tricks rather than the explicit well-known and documented method (i.e. a cookie). While I know that it's possible, I think it's morally despicable and I expect better from established (and ostensibly honorable) companies like Google. Yeah, that's what it does. Instead you get a new set of tracking cookies, because to Google and any other random website you look like a new browser they haven't seen before. By design, they have no idea that you're using "incognito mode". With that in mind, what do you think Google and others should do differently?
- lupusreal 3y ago
  Google should 1) Set the Do Not Track header in incognito mode. 2) Respect it. Bonus 3) Lobby congress to make it illegal to disrespect the DNT header.
  - Kalium 3y ago
    Do Not Track is a suggestion at best. In the best of all possible worlds where Google does exactly as you suggest in forcing it on and respecting it, every other server out there is perfectly capable of ignoring a polite suggestion. Your other idea is interesting. Google should lobby for regulations that would hurt their competitors far more than them. You wouldn't regard this as a big company engaging in regulatory capture?
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      So you object that clients requesting not to be tracked isn't something servers are required to respect, but also object to the idea of servers facing legal penalties for not respecting it. It sounds like you've already decided that the tracking free-for-all status quo is the best we can do.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - oarsinsync 3y ago
      > Do Not Track is a suggestion at best No, it’s an explicit instruction. It’s treated as a suggestion, at best. It’s not “It’d be real nice if you didn’t track”, it’s “Do not track.” There’s nothing ambiguous about it. The defence of Google is “well everyone else is doing it”, which isn’t a particularly strong defence, for Google, nor all the other shady businesses engaging in this practice.
      - Kalium 3y ago
        What's the practical difference between an unenforceable and unobservable explicit instruction and a polite suggestion? My point is not that Google is good or bad or that all the other kids are doing it. My point is that DNT is at current fundamentally incapable of delivering what we're asking it to do.

redcobra762 3y ago

“Downfall” seems a bit dubious of a term here, Google is doing just fine…

carlossouza 3y ago
Google is far from doing just fine. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was it destroyed by a single incident or individual. The downfall of empires gradually happens over years... decades... But make no mistake: the sign of the first derivative is negative.
- redcobra762 3y ago
  Sorry but this seems like wishcasting to me; Alphabet’s stock is up 46% yoy, beating the market by 30%+. I think it’s at an all-time high, even. Any day now though, right?
- thfuran 3y ago
  The first derivative of what exactly? Certainly not their stock price. And not their quarterly revenue either, nor even YoY growth.

Kalium 3y ago

> Incognito mode is supposed to not send your regular cookies so sites shouldn't be able to track you unless they use dubious stealthy tricks rather than the explicit well-known and documented method (i.e. a cookie). While I know that it's possible, I think it's morally despicable and I expect better from established (and ostensibly honorable) companies like Google. Yeah, that's what it does. Instead you get a new set of tracking cookies, because to Google and any other random website you look like a new browser they haven't seen before. By design, they have no idea that you're using "incognito mode". With that in mind, what do you think Google and others should do differently?

lupusreal 3y ago
Google should 1) Set the Do Not Track header in incognito mode. 2) Respect it. Bonus 3) Lobby congress to make it illegal to disrespect the DNT header.
- Kalium 3y ago
  Do Not Track is a suggestion at best. In the best of all possible worlds where Google does exactly as you suggest in forcing it on and respecting it, every other server out there is perfectly capable of ignoring a polite suggestion. Your other idea is interesting. Google should lobby for regulations that would hurt their competitors far more than them. You wouldn't regard this as a big company engaging in regulatory capture?
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    So you object that clients requesting not to be tracked isn't something servers are required to respect, but also object to the idea of servers facing legal penalties for not respecting it. It sounds like you've already decided that the tracking free-for-all status quo is the best we can do.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - oarsinsync 3y ago
    > Do Not Track is a suggestion at best No, it’s an explicit instruction. It’s treated as a suggestion, at best. It’s not “It’d be real nice if you didn’t track”, it’s “Do not track.” There’s nothing ambiguous about it. The defence of Google is “well everyone else is doing it”, which isn’t a particularly strong defence, for Google, nor all the other shady businesses engaging in this practice.
    - Kalium 3y ago
      What's the practical difference between an unenforceable and unobservable explicit instruction and a polite suggestion? My point is not that Google is good or bad or that all the other kids are doing it. My point is that DNT is at current fundamentally incapable of delivering what we're asking it to do.