I was thinking whether "Do Not Track" option, available in most modern web browsers, actually does make any difference, since as far as I know, it only asks the websites to kindly not treat the visitor with all the roentgen stuff, which the request could be perfectly ignored. Furthermore, I was thinking, if somebody is asking to not be tracked - while the statistical majority is ignorant of the feature, therefore wishes to be tracked - it could bring a paradoxical result, in which such a visitor would be monitored extra, because of the neon sign.
I think it's really hard to tell if it does any good. :-\
I think it has a lot to do with the ethics of the websites you visit.
The way browsers and everyone else seems to be collecting your search information probably not.
(09-02-2019, 08:23 PM)The Repairman link Wrote: [ -> ]I think it's really hard to tell if it does any good. :-\
I think it has a lot to do with the ethics of the websites you visit.
The way browsers and everyone else seems to be collecting your search information probably not.
Thanks for the reply, bud. Unfortunately, it likely does depend upon the framework of ethics and even if the data is skipped from being used, it could still be collected, which means, in undefined future events, it may possibly be revived, in case certain conditions change, roughly speaking. But I may not exactly get how does it work and how it is being processed. In the end, every valid privilege or law needs to have a way of enforcement, which means, it should work arbitrarily or systemically, not depending on the good will or sayso of anyone.
I noticed your post the " Do not Track " policy.
Do Not Track is a technology and policy proposal that enables users to opt out of tracking by websites you do not visit, including analytics services, advertising networks, and social platforms through your browser settings. How they track are alike tracking cookies which connect to each other making similar to a Tree type of tracking cookies. which correspond to each others information, usually with alike java script pairing them for tracking data. Clean your browser history & data frequently. Located in the privacy section of your browser. The other thin often over looked is your clip board. I set my clip board to not keep history. There you can find anything that you may fill out , form data or even credit card numbers. That is the only way I know to ensure that data is not tracked. Hard to track what is no longer there. Some times i may have up to 100 - 150 MB of form data in one days time. 8) 8)
Heard that having a DuckDuckGO search engine set as default choice in the web browser helps some.
If your computer is connected to the Internet at all, expect no more privacy than a goldfish. The only alternative is to use a VPN, Tor, all that stuff, which is more trouble than it's worth IMO.
DuckDuckGo is a good web browser. Yes, they do not collect tracking cookies. All though the browser will tell you to clear your history in the privacy section often. Also on browsers all of the accumulated browser history if not deleted will slow down your browser and make you think it is your internet speed when it is only your browser history. 8)
The browser extension Privacy Badger, from the respected Electronic Frontier Foundation, says this (among other things) on its site
"Invisible tracking happens in all sorts of ways; ads are just the visible tip of the iceberg. Privacy Badger sends the Do Not Track signal to trackers telling them not to track you. If they ignore your wishes, your Badger will learn to block them—whether they are advertisers or trackers of other kinds."
In addition I use Cookie Autodelete, which deletes cookies once you close a tab.
I also use some "comparmentalization" - on one pc (both are LL) I have a reasonably securely set up Firefox which I reserve for logins, bank, shopping etc. I avail of FF's Multi-account Containers extension - this is supposed to "sandbox" each open tab/container from snooping by trackers in other tabs.
Some guidance on configuring FF is at Privacy Tools io, worth the minor effort.
You can look at "Internet Privacy 2019" by "The Hated One" on youtube - good stuff, though i didn't adopt everything he suggests! It's very fast, I had to watch it a few times, though he's packing a lot in in 30 mins. He suggests using Linux for starters, so we're already there at least!
I also have my documents, spreadsheets etc on this pc encrypted.
Another pc has the lovely Vivaldi browser and I try to avoid any personally identifiable info on that, just for general browsing, youtube etc. I also have the same browser extensions there and followed the above video's advice on Vivaldi settings.
So I think it is possible to secure our privacy and data to a good enough extent. The effort involved is not too much, and those suggested sources above are a good starting point I think.
Edit: I forgot -
https://proprivacy.com/ is great for privacy guides.
I have been using DuckDuckGo as a default search engine for sometime now and I am satisfied, it is neither better nor worse than Google to my view. What I dislike, though, is the "politics" of how the DuckDuckGo propaganda badmouths Google. I do understand this is how DuckDuckGo gives an edge to their biznes - like with the antivirus paranoia around WindowsOS - but does it really feel poor. If I was Google, I would find some of the claims made by DuckDuckGo - or they way it is put - a valid reason to take umbrage.
I could simply unsubscribe from the DuckDuckGo propaganda letter, but the very notion of participation, brings a sense of distaste. There is no "good" side in this market struggle and each party has own truth and own justice, so I guess one has to simply pick up a lesser kind of evil - or cut the Internet.
Do Not Track doesn't seem to be something that works anymore. Mozilla Firefox has it enabled by default for what it's worth. It is up to the website developer or server administrator to choose what to do (or not do) with these requests. Your better off installing web browser ad-blockers/analytics blockers like uBlock Origin on Firefox or others of your choice on your preferred browser. This is about the most you can do short of a VPN (which is what I use most of the time), or TOR or a combination of both (or a VPN provider that has TOR setup on the server side of the VPN connection, NordVPN and others have servers that will do this).
The other option: *drumroll* Disconnect from the internet and pretend it doesn't exist. This isn't realistic for nearly everyone reading this forum or posts. It's become a necessity for nearly everything we do now.
The next paragraph relates to Linux/Windows as a whole on tracking, a bit beyond the scope of this topic but still relevant.
What we do know is that Linux is far-far-far-far-far-far-far-far better at privacy than Windows is (data/analytics tracking/anti-virus submission samples). There are many utilities out there for Windows now that remove the default tracking settings to not track, and incorporate IP addresses and URLs in the operating system hosts file to redirect those bad addresses/URLs to null or 127.0.0.1, essentially ignoring those requests. Still though, the problem then becomes: How do I know that Windows isn't talking at all to Microsoft and sending data behind my back? The answer to this is that you don't. Windows always checks to see that your copy of Windows is genuine. Windows is proprietary and closed-source, which are two big NO-NOs in regards to transparency and honesty of the code behind. Microsoft's Bitlocker encryption is a perfect example of this. Bitlocker encryption keys are now sent to Microsoft in case you lose them (this can be defeated, but again, how do you really know?). Law enforcement can summon Microsoft for that information and all that time that you took to encrypt that valuable information now goes to waste. Back-doors can be hidden in Windows, but very hard to do the same in Linux because of transparency of the code, and all of the eyes looking upon it. There is safety in numbers; in this case it's everyone who looks at/modifies/submits Linux kernel code.