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Browser fingerprinting is where JavaScript or other means are used to scrape uniquely identifying information from the browser metadata and functions such as how it draws a canvas object. In it's latest release Apple will defeat browser fingerprinting by making all Mac users look alike to advertisers and websites that use fingerprinting to track users. Apple can afford to do this as it doesn't have skin in the online advertising game.
[This is likely only going to be for the Safari browser. - Ed]
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Latest Apple Release to Defeat Browser Fingerprinting in Safari
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
I don't want a pickle,
I just wanna ride on my motorsickle.
And I don't want to die,
I just want to ride on my motorcy.
Cle.
-- Arlo Guthrie
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 14 2018, @09:35PM (8 children)
Yup, I'd like to see the values returned by Apple become the default for all OSS browsers as well, or at least have an extension to do that.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday August 15 2018, @01:15PM (7 children)
Why? So users of free browsers can get reduced-functionality versions of web applications that limit themselves to the subset of web APIs that Safari supports? Some video hosts whose server software is free software will refuse to serve video to Safari because Safari for macOS and Safari for iOS support zero (0) royalty-free video codecs. If not, a website could send a WebM video (muted so that it'll autoplay), and then if it plays, the site's fingerprinting script would conclude that the user isn't really using Safari.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday August 15 2018, @01:47PM (6 children)
For the same reason you lock your car doors when you park it. There's nothing stopping anyone from easily breaking a window but it does make the job of screwing you slightly more difficult. I'm very much in favor of making it as difficult as practically possible to follow my every movement and fuck anyone whose business model requires constant surveillance of me.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:22PM (5 children)
The problem with that analogy is that locks on doors aren't illegal. Non-support of free video codecs with full support of AVC, AAC, and HEVC is illegal for free software in SN's home country because of patent law.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:45PM (4 children)
Erm, no. Not supporting free codecs is perfectly legal here, barring specific anti-trust rulings to the contrary.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:55PM (3 children)
An attacker would be able to distinguish your browser from Safari because Safari supports AVC, AAC, and HEVC, and your browser supports none of them.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 16 2018, @01:23PM (2 children)
Which has nothing to do with legality. I'm not seeing what you're trying to say here.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday August 16 2018, @01:57PM (1 child)
In this comment [soylentnews.org] you recommended that all free web browsers disguise themselves as Apple Safari by default. I'm saying that there are two methods of pretending to be Safari: one ineffective, the other civilly illegal to implement in free software. The ineffective one is not supporting nonfree codecs. The illegal one is supporting nonfree codecs. Which would you prefer that free web browsers adopt?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 16 2018, @02:03PM
The one you say is ineffective. It's not anymore than locking your car door is but that's the label you chose.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.