Slashdot Mirror
Tynt Insight Is Watching You Cut and Paste
jerryasher writes "In recent weeks I've noticed that when I copy and paste text from Wired and other websites, the pasted text has had the URL of the original website appended to it. Cool, and utterly annoying, and how do I make that stop? Tynt Insight is a piece of Javascript that sends what you copy to Tynt's webservers and adds the backlinks. Tynt calls that a service for the site owner, many people call that a privacy invasion. Worse, there are some reports that it sends not just what you copy, but everything you select. And Tynt provides no opt outs. Not cookie-based, not IP-based, but stop-it-you-creeps-angry-phone-call-based. It ain't a pure useful service, and it ain't a pure privacy invasion. But I sure wish they'd go away or have had the decency never to start up in the first place. I block it on Firefox with Ghostery."
Only run the javascript you want.
I thought that to allow JavaScript to access the clipboard, you had to opt in, and even then, you can't really do it the right way under FireFox or Chrome. Like, JavaScript clipboard access is an IE only thing.
Are we sure this isn't a Java application or something?
This is my sig.
NoScript will also block it, and if you configure it to block by default, Tynt's code will never execute unless you specifically permit it.
Epic Win for Irony.
Currently on the front page of Wired.Com
"WebMonkey:
Warning: This site may be sharing your data"
If its just J/S it must be useing the browser to get or post the information back to their web server. Figure out what there net block is and black configure your firewall to send you a nice reset packet anytime your box tries to hit it.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Personally I have stopped browsing without NoScript enabled. I sincerely hope that the functionality it provides is adapted as a base feature in future browsers. Javascript is simply too dangerous to be trusted by default. Sites need to earn that trust, IMHO.
STFU about slashdot bias.
I have a habit of repeatedly selecting and deselecting text as I read it. I probably selected the story blurb here 10 times while reading it. It would be hard for them to mine that data for anything useful. Not that I run strange javascript anyway.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
So let me get this straight. Because there are websites that are doing shady stuff with the text I select and such, you want me to install a Firefox Extension that theoretically won't do anything shady with my stuff, even though its license consists of
Source code license for Ghostery 2.0.2
Copyright Ghostery, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
And there's no source available.
Why should we trust the people behind Ghostery any more than a random website out there? If you're writing software to protect privacy and prevent data snooping, why make people trust more closed-source software?
coding is life
I don't use noscript, but have been noticing lots of disabled copying on more and more websites.
The simple fix I use is to Ctrl-U/View source and copy from that window.
--Carlos V.
Just add a filter to to Adblock Plus in Firefox. Go to Adblock Plus's preferences page, click Add Filter and enter:
http://tcr.tynt.com/*
Then just click OK or Apply.
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
The URL appending when cutting and pasting is easily defeated by pasting using the middle mouse button. That script still sends selection information, though. Can anybody tell me what this data is collected for? I don't see any value in it.
http://www.moonlight3d.eu/
It's based on selecting text, not copying and pasting it. So when you select the text in your browser, as soon as you finish making the selection, it sends the info on what you selected back to Tynt. It also adds in the attribution link to the selected text (although you won't see it in the web page). Then when you CTRL-C or right-click and copy as usual after making the selection, you get your selected text and the attribution link.
That's how it avoids needing to use Javascript to do anything to directly touch the clipboard (which is disabled by default in your browser for security reasons).
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
... closed-source software?
1. rename extension.xpi to extension.zip
2. open extension.zip with unzipper of your choice
3. read all source-code
4. ???
5. profit!
I can't get it to work when I copy paste from Wired (must be something with my setup and javascript) but I will make the unpopular statement of saying that 1) you are copying and pasting Wired's content and 2) as early as high school I was taught that if I was copying information verbatim, I had better have some sort of reference (MLA preferred).
Now, on Slashdot I drop in a link on some text like just did up there. But if I'm quoting it, I'll throw in a quote block and lead up to who said it and call it a day. Now, let's imagine a world where all that was automated when you copied something and the text you copied came with XML metadata saying all the things like where you got it, when you got it, who wrote it, etc. That could potentially be pretty useful. If you think of the web as actual works belonging to people then you can start to see how legitimately referencing other works could be made a lot easier with stuff like this. And maybe text editors could have plugins to digest it?
Unfortunately the submitter and editor of this site seem to cry privacy violation at any attempt to move past the wild wild west anything goes attitude of the world wide web. That's fine as this has an element of privacy concerns what with the phoning home. But please consider the issue from Wired's side, from the side of the author and content creators. They might just trying to help us with what we were taught in school.
Lastly, I would like to point out that another solution aside from Ghostery or Noscript is just to not use Wired's site at all. Vote with your feet and bring your eyeballs elsewhere for pageviews and adclicks. I'm sure Wired's not losing a whole lot of adclicks if you do.
My work here is dung.
This from their FAQ - Technical Topics (http://www1.tynt.com/faq-technical-topics):
Q. How can I block Tynt Insight from monitoring my actions?
A. Tynt understands that some people are uncomfortable having events from their web browsing recorded in a database. We take your privacy concerns seriously and we are therefore investing considerable effort into developing a feature that will allow users to block Tynt software across all the sites that are using it, from within their own browser. Until we have this blocking feature ready, it is possible to achieve a similar effect by using one of the many ad blocking components available on the net. For Firefox users, we have found Adblock plus to work well, and Super Ad Blocker is effective for IE users.
I can't wait to download and install software they've written to help me block them from tracking me with their software. Good thing I'm using Ad Block Plus and NoScript while I wait, or they'd know I cut-n-pasted that...
Does Tynt have multiple /. accounts or something? I've never seen so many posts marked Troll
"Not cookie based, not IP based, but stop it you creeps angry phone call based. It ain't a pure useful service, and it ain't a pure privacy invasion. But I sure wish they'd go away and have had the decency to never start up in the first place."
Please tell me that the writer is either a non-native English speaker, or they didn't read that twice?
Tibbon
tibbon.com
I seem to have stopped this by adding the following to my hosts file:
127.0.0.1 www1.tynt.com
127.0.0.1 tynt.com
127.0.0.1 www.tynt.com
127.0.0.1 w1.tcr112.tynt.com
I stole this sig from a more creative user.
Just make sure that the option "Allow scripts to detect context menu events" is left unchecked (this is the default). Then you can select text/graphics/whatever, and copy operations via right mouse click are not observable by javascript.
In fact, javascript can't detect any right click actions in Opera unless you explicitly allow it. So copy, paste, translate, search, dictionary, encyclopedia, etc. actions can't be monitored by javascript in a web page.
This feature was in earlier versions of Opera as well, but the checkbox was named differently.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I work for Tynt. I appreciate the discussion here and want to make sure that everyone knows we want to be respectful of the opinions here. Not sure i I will get flamed just for wading in, but I hope not. To clarify on a few points 1. Tracking and Attribution – the attribution feature is separate from the tracking features. The tracking features work very much like any other analytics tool. We do not store any personally identifiable information, but we do want to help publishers learn what content people are choosing to preserve and promote. In addition, publishers can turn the attribution feature on or off on their sites. If you want to see what is actually collected - sign up for an account and look at the dashboard, you will see that we are tracking the content, not the user. 3. What if I don’t want this behavior? We are currently working on a global opt out for users who would rather not have Tynt monitor them. In the interim you can opt out on a site by site basis (i.e. the opt out for the SF Gate is here: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/faq.shtml#faq1.5%23ixzz0bxLIAbL7). More info on how to not have Tynt monitor you is available in our FAQs here: http://www1.tynt.com/faq-technical-topics#ixzz0bxGzIgPZ but as pointed out in the comments here, NoScript is a very effective tool for this. Derek
Hey boys! This feller here is calling himself "IT Ninja" but he doesn't know the difference between java and javascript! I say we run him outa slashdot!
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
The simple fix I use is to Ctrl-U/View source and copy from that window.
I've seen one lyric site that thwarts this by encoding every character of each song's lyrics as a numeric character reference (for example, hello for hello). It expands the size of the markup, but for one thing, that's what mod_gzip is for, and for another thing, obfuscation of View Source makes it that much easier for sites to keep their licenses from the music publishers.
Wow, you're a real arrogant dickbag, aren't you? The next time you see an article on the internet about crappy egotistical IT folk, take a minute to walk down to the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror.
-- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."