Internet 'Do Not Track' system is in shatters

[A Guy]

Chalk up another victory for corporate surveillance: Five years after advocates came up with an easy way to let you browse the Web with just a little privacy, the Do Not Track system is in tatters and that pair of boots you looked at online last month is still stalking you from website to website.

In 2009, a few Internet privacy advocates developed an idea that was supposed to give people a way to tell websites they don't want to be monitored as they move from website to website. The mechanism, which would eventually be built into all the major browsers, was called Do Not Track.

With a single browser setting, these advocates thought, users would be able to communicate a preference for their privacy. It would be easier than downloading add-on software or creating a blacklist of specific companies to block. Do Not Track, or DNT, would be the Web's version of the telemarketer Do Not Call list.

Source

A Guy

 

[Layback Bear]

Thanks A Guy.
The Do Not Track will not survive as intended for one reason; money.

The internet could not exist as it does without advertising money.
I don't believe this Forum would survive without income from advertisements.

Google doesn't spend billions of dollars on systems, hardware and buildings all over the world just to make new friends. They do it to make money with advertisements.
Anything that hinders advertisement is a no go for companies like Google and many others.

Tasteful advertisement in a proper fashion would be welcomed by users of the internet in my opinion.
Advertisement is the life blood of the internet. Tracking is a method use by companies to get the best bag for their buck.

Do Not Track is just another method for tracking. It let others know you are there. If you missed me the first search check this out.

Here I am please nice guys don't track me.

I do agree with this from the article.

But maybe the list should be empty. "There is no such thing as Do Not Track right now," said Mike Zaneis, executive vice president, public policy, and general counsel at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. "It's a gimmicky marketing term," he said.

Money could also be driving companies' refusal to honor DNT, given that their businesses largely run on ad dollars. Delivering ads to the right people at the right time is harder if they're hiding from you.

 

[Slartybart]

Cookies!

I've wrestled with the best way to remove my muddy footprints from the nice clean floors on the Internet.

I'm currently using IE 10 as my browser and clear history on exit - everything gets cleaned except

ActiveX Filtering and Tracking Protection data

This approach solved 99% of the issue for me, but it screwed up logins (cookie based) on secure sites (bank)
To solve that I ticked

Preserve Favorites website data

99.9 percent solution since all favorited websites data was preserved.

Settled on creating an IEfavs folder outside of Favorites and moved all links to that new folder
then I created a Preserve folder in Favorites and copied the links I need to keep to Favorites\Preserve
then I created a shortcut in IE Favorites to the other folder IEfavs

Periodically, I move newly created favorites to IEfavs so the data for those are not preserved next time I exit IE.

Any website that I absolutely need to preserve data (passwords, logins, etc) gets moved to Favorites\Preserve

Caveat: cCleaner will clean cookies if you tick that option. I add the required cookies to the Smart Cookie 'keep' processing in cCleaner

It's a bit convoluted, but once setup, it works well for me. No cookies = no tracking!

 

[z3r010]

Forget it, cookies are increasingly irrelevant, browser fingerprinting and other methods are deployed by the professionals.

Just check your browser fingerprint and see how unique you then think how easy it is to use the data for tracking - https://panopticlick.eff.org/

 

[Layback Bear]

I get this. When I use this https://panopticlick.eff.org/

 

[z3r010]

Their SSL reads fine in all my browsers.

 

[Layback Bear]

Okay; what exactly is that telling me. Do I have a problem that needs a cure.

If I use I.E. 11 I get this.

https://panopticlick.eff.org/index.php?action=log&js=yes

 

[Slartybart]

Thanks John,

Those cheeky sons without fathers!

Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 4,150,880 tested so far.

Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 21.98 bits of identifying information......

Being unique is not good - my browser fingerprint identifies me to the web site. I suppose this information might be shared or consolidated by a marketing firm.

Very interesting reads
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/primer-information-theory-and-privacy
https://panopticlick.eff.org/browser-uniqueness.pdf
-> most of the security add-ons mentioned in the above PDF are for Mozilla based browsers

Still, cookies are a start.

 

[z3r010]

Okay; what exactly is that telling me. Do I have a problem that needs a cure.

If I use I.E. 11 I get this.

https://panopticlick.eff.org/index.php?action=log&js=yes

View attachment 319138

What that is telling you is that just by reading a few details from your computer, your setup is unique and you can be tracked using that data rather than placing a cookie, I know Google and MSFT have both been working on similar cookieless tracking methods.

Clearing cookies these days is getting pretty irrelevant as much better methods are being used.

 

[Layback Bear]

Remember I have no degrees in computer science but as far as I know if you are online you can be seen to one degree or another.
As a old Frank Sinatra song stated (That's Life)

Running off to get some ice cream and cookies.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
As you might be able to see the majority of trackers leak out of Flash player in my case,
View attachment 319142

 

[z3r010]

I think the flash bit is slightly misleading, the test has been online for a few years and has tested flash version since day one, not many people will be looking at this stuff and as the player is updated quite frequently the results will be skewed.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yea your correct I disabled flash and the rating wasn't much different just other leaks showing,
But also then you get into ip address,
Which it's pretty difficult to hide that,
Cheers.

 

[z3r010]

There is much more stuff that leaks out of your system to the internet than the stuff tested there, that one is a relatively old test that and I posted it only to show that tracking is much more than cookies.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep,
I wonder if you blocked every out bound transmission could you get out of the room your computer's in
Only if you walk out

 

[Callender]

DNT

I've been reading for some time that DNT requests are often ignored. For that reason I use a few add ons like Self Destucting Cookies, User Agent Cleaner and also block referrer header and Etags in all browsers that I use. If I get problems when visiting a site and perhaps can't download a file then I'll deactivate stuff temporarily.
I understand that advertisers like tracking and it's not a huge issue for me but I'd prefer that they didn't do it.

Evercookie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[gigagiggles]

The third column tells it all. The higher the number, the more unique the browser is. It's like walking down the street wearing a fedora or top hat. Linux-wise, it may not be unique; but pedestrian-wise, one stands out. I use a non-common browser. The user-agent stands out. My choice of suites of add-on's is like the swirl/whirl on a fingerprint. And I use my browser windowed with specific resolution size rather than the common full-screen. However, my uniqueness is useless if I do not visit places where these advertisers are looking for my uniqueness. Or if my foray into known 'hostile' teritories are mission-specific, the ads are just part of the background noise.

 

[A Guy]

I even notice a Team Viewer font listed. Basically, the unique combo of addons, extensions, fonts, screen resolution, etc. make your browser recognizable. It's all a part of using the interwebs

A Guy