Firefox Will Give You a Fake Browsing History To Fool Advertisers (vice.com) 177
Security through obscurity is out, security through tomfoolery is in. From a report: That's the basic philosophy sold by Track THIS, "a new kind of incognito" browsing project, which opens up 100 tabs crafted to fit a specific character -- a hypebeast, a filthy rich person, a doomsday prepper, or an influencer. The idea is that your browsing history will be depersonalized and poisoned, so advertisers won't know how to target ads to you. It was developed as a collaboration between mschf (pronounced "mischief") internet studios and Mozilla's Firefox as a way of promoting Firefox Quantum, the newest Firefox browser. [...] Just a warning -- if you use Track THIS it may take several minutes for all 100 tabs to load. (I used Chrome as my browser.) But when as it gradually loads, it's like taking a first-person journey through someone else's consciousness.
Hypebeast? (Score:1)
WTF is that?
Can it simulate a loner who really only reads Slashdot and spends most of his internet-time on bugguide.net?
Re: Hypebeast? (Score:3)
Doesn't need to, that's what my real browsing history is for.
Maybe (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe try NOT GIVING THEM USERS' BROWSING HISTORY AT ALL?
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That's actually pretty tough thanks to tracking cookies, browser fingerprinting, etc. If you can't silence the signal, drown it out with noise.
Re: (Score:2)
> Disable sending any but the most rudimentary (User agent, viewport resolution) information regarding the system's configuration and files to web sites.
Stopping browser fingerprinting is much harder than that. For example you probably need to disable JS completely, since you can collect information about the user's browser version and CPU microarchitecture by measuring JS performance: https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~kmowe... [ucsd.edu]
Re: (Score:3)
Alternatively, let them advertise to you. It's not like an ad actually forces you to either look at it or buy whatever they're selling.
Mind you, I use Adblock, so I don't see ads in general. And I'm quite happy that way. But since I've never felt the urge to buy something just because an ad appeared suggesting that I'd get laid more if I bought their product, I wouldn't be terribly upset if I were seeing ads....
Re: (Score:2)
Nope, who wants to see a page full full of obnoxious crap around what they're trying to read?
Re: (Score:2)
Nope, who wants to see a page full full of obnoxious crap around what they're trying to read?
Pretty much why I gave up on Yahoo Mail ages ago (eventually just got out of Yahoo altogether).
Re: (Score:2)
Mind you, I use Adblock, so I don't see ads in general.
Most web sites recognize add blockers and make a big overlay on the site asking you to disable it.
Ad blocking basically only works on youtube videos, skipping the add breaks.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently your definition of "most" is "maybe 1 of every 50". Most of the sites that have those adblocker overlays are newspapers that read better by turning javascript off anyway, which bypasses that.
Re: (Score:2)
But by the time they've done that, you've seen enough of the article to be able to identify the sources' names and the topic more widely than the single ink that you've been served by Slashdot (few submitters include multiple sources ; some editors add non-paywalled versions of the same story). So you go to another site.
More often, you find the sources in TFS, and search directly. Most Slashdot submitters link
Re: Maybe (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is less with advertising and more with attempts to profile users. I really don't want people spying on my web browsing habits; that they do it to target me with advertising just makes it a bit worse.
Re: (Score:2)
Trouble is, even if you don't mind ads, if you don't run a good adblocker, AND you're one of the people, who, for whatEVER reason, still cling to Windows, ads are not your worst worry.. Nope, malware that is served along with those ads that you don't mind... Malware that has a nasty habit of screwing up royally the malware that is Windows 10... Those of us on Linux (or Mac) pretty much don't have to worry about the malware (either the served malware OR the MS provided malware).... Just sayin'
Re: (Score:2)
That's ludicrous, and I'm coming from the 5-digit-UID M$ days of Slashdot.
OS-level telemetry is basically a non-issue, because corporate users won't allow it, and whatever relatively small data is sent back can be almost entirely disabled.
OTOH, Facebook and Alphabet can predict when I get sick or am about to get a divorce and can flag days I'm most likely to want a salad.
Big Tech's Big Data profiling of us is orders of magnitude more an issue than either Apple or Microsoft's box telemetry.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: Maybe (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re: (Score:2)
You should also block ads due to the malware that is served from the scammy ad networks that does a fine job of fucking up the malware that is Windows 10...
Re: (Score:3)
Oh it's one of those "private" users. We'll offer them a "special" price.
Strangers on a train. (Score:5, Interesting)
I once got some friends to agree to a stranger-on-the-train attack on supermarket loyalty cards. Basically, every time you meet someone you exchange your loyalty cards. thus the trail becomes homogenized and random. I'm buying feminine and masculine products, pet food, and meals for single and massive family size portions. Nothing would makes sense.
This no longer works however because now loyaty cards don't just get you in instore discount but they come with "points" with cash values for things like gas or end of the year rebates. so swaping cards is shut down.
This firefox system is a bit like that. But it can be subverted if any of the cookies they look for somehow have some cash value they are carrying for you. I'm hard pressed to think of a case like that. Certainly things that allow some sort of persistent login without password might fall in that category.
Re: (Score:1)
The analogy is poor. The Firefox system isn't like swapping cards with somebody else; it's like buying 10 other people's shopping lists in addition to your own to fool the system. That obviously wouldn't work with a shopper's card, but it can work with a web browser if you have plenty of bandwidth and processing power to download and render 10 people's
Re: (Score:1)
I imagine the whole reason store cards exist is because they want better data than what the CCs offer. And for free. And to track discount-enabled cash payments. CC probably doesn't increase your exposure, with regard to the store.
But in the privacy world you don't wanna employ tactics respectively, you conceal indiscriminately. The "most private" purchase would be as you describe.
See also (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I was about to post the same thing. Ad nauseam is a far older and far more more elegant solution to the problem of tracking and identifying the user. Why open hundreds of tabs full of garbage when you can just have an ad blocker that will literally click on every ad in the background, resulting in utterly nonsensical dataset for the tracker.
I just wish they'd fix all the minor yet incredibly annoying bugs with that addon, as well as potential conflicts with most commonly used addons like ublock origin.
"disinformation" (Score:2)
Word of the year, 2019!
Applies in personal and political spheres!
I suspect we'll see much more of it in the lead-up to the election in 2020.
This is the sad future.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Because today's tech conglomerates know no bounds in trying to censor speech, control politics, and grab money no matter how morally bankrupt, this is the natural way for the user to combat that.. flood them with garbage.
You want my contact list? How about 10,000,000 fake contacts to go with it. You want my emails? Here's an inbox full of garbage. This can be done with almost everything.. even Windows 10 telemetry. If you want to store data on me, it's my right to be able to generate tons more random data that can just take up space on your servers.
The next step will be to have third party programs that seamlessly encrypt everything.. Want to use Microsoft OneDrive or DropBox? Why not have a program that encrypts everything you copy to it and decrypts it when you copy from it?
It's sad that this is needed - but it IS needed.
Re: (Score:2)
>>...even Windows 10 telemetry.
I'm listening...tell me how please.
Re: This is the sad future.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I like this thought process. The idea of 'RAID' for multiple file-hosting sites mixed with encryption could be used to solve the problem with not trusting cloud services to keep your data private..
I also think it could go further with sites like Facebook. Imagine if you could have everything on your Facebook profile look like complete garbage - from your name to the pictures and videos you upload.. and only friends who have a decryption key can see your real stuff.. Facebook would know who your friends are
Re: (Score:1)
Is the bigger worry not the creation of the new business unit of browsing verification? I'm not certain that Big Data will abandon that concept, not having fully scoped the method and cost of such verification.
Re: (Score:2)
That's lovely until it hits a hack site (Score:3, Interesting)
Or a site that's been hacked to download shit or take advantage of FireFox.
I can't imagine a more worse (though well intentioned) idea. You might as well download viruses yourself and save seven minutes.
Deepsheep.com? (Score:2)
Here is your coupon for GoatsRus.RU
Nope. (Score:3)
I will continue to block ads and trackers as I have for a long time now. I don't want to spend minutes opening my browser.
These ads are slowing me down (Score:4, Funny)
I know, I'll load 100 tabs. That'll show 'em.
Re: These ads are slowing me down (Score:1)
Can I ask an honest question here? (Score:5, Insightful)
Serious question here... can someone please explain what the problem with targeted ads is?
While I can appreciate that nobody, including myself, likes the intrusive feeling of ads when one is just after whatever content the ad is temporary blocking one from accessing, all other things being equal, I'd still rather see ads about things that are relevant to the things that interest me than ads for shit that I would not ever need or want. At the very least, I'm liable to find an ad for a product that I was actually interested in at the time less annoying than one that is entirely irrelevant to me in every way. Is that unusual, or something?
If I'm in the market for X, why is it somehow wrong for companies to advertise X to me, especially when I am sometimes presented with options I may not have otherwise thought of? Why should it matter that I may not have explicitly announced I was interested in X? If an algorithm can manage to guess it, then isn't that so much the better for me, better for the advertiser, better for everyone?
And if it guesses wrong, how is that any different than an untargeted ad?
Re:Can I ask an honest question here? (Score:5, Informative)
Targeted ads aren't by themselves the problem. Having the information that creates the targeted ads is the problem. Just having that information can lead to issues or have negative consequences. The now famous case of Target knowing a girl was pregnant before her father because of the information they had on her:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/#64bc24716668
If companies know you're pregnant, what else can they know about you? How do we as consumers know what information companies have on us?
Re: (Score:2)
Targeted ads aren't by themselves the problem. Having the information that creates the targeted ads is the problem. Just having that information can lead to issues or have negative consequences. The now famous case of Target knowing a girl was pregnant before her father because of the information they had on her
Okay, but where is the actual problem?
If companies know you're pregnant, what else can they know about you? How do we as consumers know what information companies have on us?
If all they're going to do with it is show me ads for stuff I'm actually interested in, why should I care? And if they're going to do something else with it... well, what else are they going to do? Give it to law enforcement in response to a search warrant or subpoena. I suppose that's a risk some people care about, but I don't.
That said, I'm all for people being able to opt out of all of this, and instead to choose to pay money for the online services they use. I
Re: (Score:3)
EVERYbody seems to be missing the fact that these ad network servers are not only blasting out advertisements but MORE importantly they're also blasting out MALWARE, up the wazoo.. Those of us on Linux and Mac don't have to worry much about that, but those still on the malware magnet that is malware itself, otherwise known as Windows 10 should worry a LOT about it if they DON'T block ads....
Re: (Score:2)
Malware is a problem with ad networks, but it's not a problem with targeted ads. There's the same amount of malware whether the ads are targeted or not.
Government access to the data is the most concerning. But for 99% of people it's not concerning on an individual level -- it's only for society as a whole that it has bad consequences.
Re: (Score:2)
Imagine that some company knows your search history and through machine learning they find out you will probably develop Huntington's disease. Now imagine that this analysis falls into hands of insurance companies in an unregulated market like USA. You are out of luck because you will probably be denied any insurance.
Even worse, it doesn't matter if you actually have the gene mutations that would cause the disease. That correlation just has to be good enough for insurers to find it profitable to deny even h
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not the targeted ads that concern most people. The system that's been built for targeted ads is a system for spying. That's what most people don't like. Easily used for other purposes now and down the track. Many decent people do not like being spied on. Some don't care. I don't know the numbers.
Re:Can I ask an honest question here? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Can I ask an honest question here? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If that's the issue, the person in question DESERVES it's consequences
Not really. He might actually be shopping for her birthday present 6 months in advance, especially if it's expensive jewelry. It might have been someone else using the computer. The ads might not be targeted at all, but she assumes they are. He may have been helping someone else shop, and she's not supposed to know. Maybe he's not waiting until her birthday to buy her a gift. Maybe it's for himself. Maybe it's near his previous girlfriend's birthday, and the companies are still targeting because they
Re: (Score:3)
Serious question here... can someone please explain what the problem with targeted ads is?
Why? Because ads that are targeted suffer from the same following set of disadvantages: Ads slow down page display. Ads introduce security vulnerabilities.
Ads interrupt the display of real content by splitting up content or causing the content to spill to the next screen. Ads pull my attention away from the content that I really want to read.
In addition, many targeted ads are historical. I see ads for things that I just bought. That's as frustrating as watching a streaming channel and seeing t
Re: (Score:2)
First, targeted ads don't come from a vacuum. They come from tracking everything you do online. Opposing them is opposing the main way that finances a surveillance state.
Second, targeted ads allow for price discrimination. By knowing more about my customer, I can set a higher price if they are richer or in more desperate need. While this can, in theory, also lower prices. But, I will bet it's worse overall for me (and most people.)
Third, it's easier to ignore ads that aren't targeted.
Is that enough, be
Re:Can I ask an honest question here? (Score:4, Insightful)
"can someone please explain what the problem with targeted ads is"
Where to begin?
There are essentially 2 major problems.
The first, is that in order to target you, they have to know who you are and they have to know what you like. To do that they invariably devise ways to track you, to link data obtained from different sources. This leads to tracking cookies, privacy invasive policies, and ultimately the potential for advertisers to know a vast quantity of information about you, that they ostensibly gathered to 'target ads' but which inevitably will be compromised or sold and repurposed.
They seek ultimately to amass:
your movements in the real world
everything you look at online; how long you looked at it, how often...
everything you purchase
who you associate with, how often
your age, sex, religious affiliation, political affiliation, income, relationship status, interests
even your habits and rythms
If you can't see how the existence of that profile on you represents a threat to you or someone you know in the wrong hands. From a stalker, ex-girlfriend, criminal, or a future government... then you lack any imagination or awareness of history.
The second major problem with targeted ads is that it works; it works way better than untargeted ads, (and those work too). If they didn't there wouldn't be huge megacorporations making a lot of money doing it.
Think about that for a second. Who does the ad serve. You naively regurgitated their sales pitch: "If I'm in the market for X, why is it somehow wrong for companies to advertise X to me..."
That's only a tiny fraction of what they do. If you go onto good and search for 'raspberry pi' having a bunch of raspberry pi vendors show you an ad in the result, as well as raspberry pi competitors hawking their alternatives... that's generally fine and inoffensive. Few object to that.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Targeted ads don't satisfy your demand for a product, they CREATE demand where it didn't exist. They not only target you ads for products you don't need or particularly want, they know how to target them to get your attention; to create interest, to persuade you to want them. If you are black they'll show you black people using it, if you are white they'll show you white people... they'll tailor it to prey on your fears, because they know what they are; they'll tailor it to prey on your aspirations because they know what they are. They'll set the deal price based on what they know you earn, and can afford, if your in debt they'll highlight financing options, if you follow celebX or yuotuberY they'll highlight their endorsement etc etc etc.
This isn't in service to you and your needs and desires, this isn't about helping you find the product you need. This is about extracting as much money from your wallet as they can using state of the art psychology coupled with detailed information about you to help them know just what buttons to push to get you. They're hackers; and you are the target.
You are a damned fool if you think inviting them into your life is harmless, and thrice damned if you think they're actually providing you a service ithat is in your interest.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
"If I don't need it or particularly want it, then it is indiscernible from an untargeted ad."
Don't be absurd.
An untargeted ad is random product, random messaging, sure it occasionally might hit its mark.
Now a targeted ad, for a product you don't need or want...
Imagine you have a good friend, who knows you well. And sometimes he stumbles onto a product or service he knows you'd like he tells you about it. Often you follow through on his recommendations because he does know you well, and his recommendations a
mod parent up: "friend" with ulterior motive (Score:2)
mod parent up: "friend" with ulterior motive
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"If some random person who has an ulterior motive happens to also know the kind of stuff I'd ordinarily like to buy and always offers to sell it to me, how is that a particularly bad thing for me?"
Ads do not simply show you things, whereupon you freely choose to buy them or not buy them. That is NOT what the ad industry is based on.
Ads are hacking on the human mind; psychologists looking to play tricks on your conscious rational mind, while simultaneously appealing to your subconsious lizard brain.
Y
Re: (Score:2)
Which might work on people who buy things on impulse.
But I do not buy random shit.
Yes, it's true that if they hadn't shown me an ad for something I felt could use at the time but didn't happen to otherwise know about, I'd not have bought the product in the first place, but at the end of the day, it is still a product that I can actually
Re: (Score:2)
"Which might work on people who buy things on impulse. But I do not buy random shit."
a) Now you are moving the goal-posts. "What's wrong with targeted ads, as long as I personally am not affected by them" is a far cry from "serious question, what's wrong with targeted ads". Do you care about the impact of targeted ads on society at large, or just on you personally?
b) How do you know you don't buy random shit? Where's the control version of you that isn't exposed to ads? How much less random shit does he ha
Re: (Score:2)
That's an entirely fair comment, given the context what I had said, but you misinterpreted what I was actually trying to drive at. While I can admit to understanding how there can a demographic of people that might be adversely
Re: (Score:2)
"At the end of the day, however, if the ad is actually being targeted accurately, it is still something that the person actually can make use of or wants."
Sure and if a small child watches toy commercials then he wants those toys. If you buy him those toys, he'll use them. But if he didn't see the ads he'd be just as happy playing make believe with the hand-me down hot-wheels. He doesn't need something new. He doesn't want something new until he was told he wanted something new.
You think you are more advanc
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe I'm a douchebag for believing this, but I think that is each person's own problem.
It's not really without thei
Re: (Score:2)
"It's not really without their permission"
The creating and storing the profile is without your permission. I don't agree that corporations have an inherent right to attempt to track everything I do, everywhere I go, everyone I speak to, everything I buy.
"when targeted ads are working correctly, it does serves *me* better by not advertising shit to me that I don't really need."
Ads for shit you have no interest in, with messaging that fails to push your buttons, and fails to implant itself are the best ads to
Re: (Score:2)
Of course, and I absolutely endorse any individual's freedom to do so.
But again, at the end of the day, properly targeted ads are for things that the person who is receiving them will probably actually need or want. If they spend their money on that product, they *are* gaining the benefit of that. If they do not have the wherewithal to
Re: (Score:2)
" unless they endorse that it should somehow be acceptable for adults to be immature."
Pretty much all humans, including mature adults, can be influenced or persuaded. It's not "immaturity" to be human.
"But again, at the end of the day, properly targeted ads are for things that the person who is receiving them will probably actually need or want"
At best you are mostly being offered stuff you are vaguely receptive to; and then persuaded by pushing on exactly the right buttons that you are really interested in
Re: (Score:2)
No, what I am suggesting may be immature is when a person lacks a sense of fiscal responsibility that one's money might be better spent on other things than a new shiny that they might happen to otherwise want.
Re: (Score:2)
" Suggesting otherwise is just trying to shift the burden of accountability instead of assuming responsibility for one's own choices and actions."
In other words, "we're really damned good at making you do what we want, and its your fault if we succeed." That's sociopathic really.
I agree with you about personal responsiblity but you need to give people better tools to defend themselves.
" Even if a majority of people are like this, that is not a justification."
Most people can be addicted to nicotine; its ult
Re: (Score:2)
No, they are just really good at appealing to a person's desires... the companies do not ever really make a person do anything. If a person surrenders to their own desires just because somebody else made the option look attractive when they actually had the information at their disposal beforehand to realize that it wouldn't really be in their best long term interests, the
A fair question.. but it goes WAY beyond that.... (Score:2)
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Targeted ads don't satisfy your demand for a product, they CREATE demand where it didn't exist. They not only target you ads for products you don't need or particularly want, they know how to target them to get your attention; to create interest, to persuade you to want them. If you are black they'll show you black people using it, if you are white they'll show you white people... they'll tailor it to prey on your fears, because they know what they are; they'll tailor it to prey on your aspirations because they know what they are. They'll set the deal price based on what they know you earn, and can afford, if your in debt they'll highlight financing options, if you follow celebX or yuotuberY they'll highlight their endorsement etc etc etc.
This isn't in service to you and your needs and desires, this isn't about helping you find the product you need. This is about extracting as much money from your wallet as they can using state of the art psychology coupled with detailed information about you to help them know just what buttons to push to get you. They're hackers; and you are the target.
You are a damned fool if you think inviting them into your life is harmless, and thrice damned if you think they're actually providing you a service ithat is in your interest.
You are just talking about products to buy. Take this another step further. What if the "advertiser" is a political party, and the "product" is your vote? What if it's not someone trying to get you to buy something, but is someone trying to get that dark corner of your information they don't have? "Take this 3 minute survey and win a new !"
It's not about advertising. It's about willingly giving up all of the information about you. It's about offering yourself up to be manipulated. Sure, it might be
Re: (Score:2)
1) It just feels creepy. That's a valid a reason as any other.
2) It's irritating that they're such bad quality. Yes, they're targeted, but they're badly targeted, with at best a very child-like understanding what my actual priorities might be, or they're transparently inventing incredibly narrow targets with no real-world basis, or they're drawing on assumptions that I find just plain insulting.
3) False positives can be harmful. Perhaps they're sharing bad information with others. How would you like you
Re: (Score:2)
its not the targeted adds, but the profile.
Think of implications of this invisible profile available to anyone who's willing to pay. And how correct is it? will it be as correct as credit reports?
the implications of it correct or not go deep. This isn't about searching for diapers and being shown adds relevant for young parents.
And it isn't just ones internet experience, but getting a job, college, credit, or even being on some government watch list.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that profiling is not about showing you targeted adds anymore. We're way past that - see Cambridge Analytica for example. Databrokers have profiles for sale with thousands of scores about you. They try to ascertain/predict things like your gulability, psychological profile, attempts to have children, tendency to 'job hop', health risks, and so much more. These are sold to insurers, governments, employers (often embedded in things like HR software), etc.
So the problem is that public debate doe
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well I think the main... "HEY YOU, BUY REDGUM IT IS GREAT" ... reason is that sometimes you ... "REDGUM IS DA BEST. WE KNOW YOU LOVE REDGUM BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS BUY CINNAMGUM, AND REDGUM IS BETTER" ... can't really concentr "REDRUM REDRUM RedGUM!" ... concentrate when all that stuff is popped up. But I think you mean why is targeted bad, in which "HEY, DID YOU NOT BUY REDGUM YET, DUDE YOU NEED REDGUM" ... you keep seeing the same motherfucking ads over and over. It is a sanity thing.
They are ads, they are try
Re: (Score:2)
Serious question here... can someone please explain what the problem with targeted ads is?
"Targeted ads" is more the cover story Google, et al claim they're using the data for so your reaction will be "what's the big deal?". But even just targeted ads can be a problem.
There's the previously mentioned "Target incident" where a girl received a targeted catalog for pregnant women, tipping her dad off to the fact that she was pregnant. While the news media spun the story as a "Targeted ads are so good, they knew before her dad". But the reality is the girl likely knew she was pregnant, and had sh
Re: (Score:2)
Putting aside that I don't happen to be American, I would be neither a die hard Republican nor Democrat voter in a US election. For myself, it depends on who is running in a particular election, and what that particular candidate's platforms vs their competition. In my own country, I've voted for the long shot (who has never won, but sometimes would still at least get
Re: (Score:2)
Cool. A lot of very real and very significant problems which affect a lot of people don't affect you. Congratulations, I guess. Assuming your conscience sees no obligation to oppose any exploitation that doesn't directly affect you, I'd think at the very least we could ask that you not whine about hearing those affected complain and pretending the problems don't exist.
Re: (Score:2)
Your question was answered by numerous people and they pointed out almost everything...
I would like to let you know why it is a problem for me. Maybe that might help you figure out if you are bothered by targeted advertising or not.
In order to target you, they need to know something about you. My problem with that is that they frequently misidentify my notions for looking for something.
It is rather like discussing something with a Trump hater/supporter. If you discuss reality with them, they assume you are
Sounds OK (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Out of curiosity, what do detergent do you use?
When a "bug" can kill you in the US (Score:1)
Image a "fake" history where it says you have visited pederasty websites...
In the US just that is "proof" you committed a crime, the Green Mile, then, BYE BYE!
I like it (Score:2)
This is a nifty idea, especially if they make it such that I don't really need to open those tabs...
Why 100 Tabs (Score:2)
there is no other online fight (Score:2)
There is no other online fight that I embrace so wholeheartedly on one side as the fight against advertisement. So any news about new developments on my side warms my heart better than a full blown 400g hot cup of Ceylon tea with milk
The fight is endless war of sword and shield, but I will cheer it on one side until I die.
Splainzit (Score:1)
Oh great, no wonder I get ads for Teletubby panties and used horse toothbrushes.
How about ... (Score:2)
Time for new office pranks (Score:3)
Manager: Why are you getting ads for Brazzers? You know our policy.
Nuclear Plant Safety Inspector: Yes, I know. We're a strictly Pornhub only shop.
Fake the cookies too (Score:2)
But.. (Score:2)
a hypebeast, a filthy rich person, a doomsday prepper, or an influencer
But I'm a filthy rich hyperbeast doomsday prepper with a following of thousands, you insensitive clod
They always find you (Score:2)
Greaaaat..... (Score:1)
I already have 200 tabs open...
But then again, this could be a chance to explore all kinds of lives!
Lesseee.... Who do I want to be today??? (pick one)
- Washed up movie star (Residual income not like it used to be? promote YOUR next body/clothing/exercise improvement devices now!)
- gay/porn lube salesman (I, uh... don't want to touch this one)
- incarcerated homeless person (wait, they get ads? Sadly, yes. Yes, they do. One can't have too many pairs of socks, tubes of toothpaste or deoderant)
- owner of a t
Re: Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
That isn't what is happening here.
Firefox is just opening 100 tabs of random websites and those websites will all be using advertisements that also track the IP address of the person viewing the page, so if the 100 tabs are websites related to fishing, you're future legitimate web browsing will start showing you fishing adverts as those advertising companies will associate you with those 100 tabs of visiting the fishing websites
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
So not only does it provide tracking information (intentionally nonsense, but still...), it also soaks up precious bandwidth doing it each time? Fark that noise. You know what does a better job? Blocking the ads and tracking garbage in the first place.
Step 1: install Firefox- or Chrome-based browser.
Step 2: install uBlock Origin extension.
I add
Re: (Score:2)
So you still get ads. No help there.
but
They aren't ads for child porn,
which is what you'd get if your true browser history was known.
Which could be a good thing, depending.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Huh? (Score:2)
Yeah, I thought twice about just mentioning IP without going further into proper fingerprinting techniques but the rest of my description was kept fairly simple/dumb so I left it as is
Re: Stop adding useless bullshit. (Score:2)
Re: Stop adding useless bullshit. (Score:1)
In related news, the pages which get auto loaded serve ads which make money for the browser assholes who came up with this scheme.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a beast that exists in 4 space dimensions, and we see only the 3 dimensional projection of it in our world.
So, the Beast of Yucca... Cubes?