Huh, the good guys are now the bad guys... really?
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@guigirl I have heard of this before. Have not yet verified it but I suppose it is both plausible and possible.
Ghostery and Wot both have been caught at it in the past, though I'm not sure they used the same technique(s). -
@guigirl Me either. So far I seen no reason to not to put my trust in them.
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@greybeard said in Huh, the good guys are now the bad guys... really?:
Ghostery and Wot both have been caught at it in the past, though I'm not sure they used the same technique(s).
The article is about a technique that could - in theory - be used by ad-pushers and trackers for gathering additional fingerprinting data. Not any shady dealings by ad-blockers to track users, even though that is a possibility as well of course, should they want to.
Anyway it's all so very theoretical. Security researchers make these kinds of papers all the time, doesn't mean it's being actively used. It especially helps when said researcher has a product to sell of course... after all, Privacy is big business these days...
And why would ad-pushers go to all the trouble to gather additional fingerprinting data from ad-blocker users when they can already gather masses of fingerprinting data in the usual ways from billions of unsuspecting Chrome users.
It doesn't help when click-baiting journos make fear-mongering claims like "the average ad blocker leaves tiny traces of data on the websites you visit" (what traces exactly?), and "like a fingerprint, these signals are basically impossible to burn off".
And just plain stupidity like "There might be close to 1 billion ad-blocking internet users across the U.S"... really?