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FTC Wants Browsers To Block Online Tracking

Posted by samzenpus on from the poof-just-like-that-he's-gone dept.

storagedude writes "The FTC wants a do-not-track mechanism that would allow Web users to opt out of online behavioral tracking, similar to the national do-not-call registry. The agency's preferred method for accomplishing this would be a browser-based tool that would give users the option of blocking data collection across the Web. The only problem is that the agency may not have the authority to require this, thanks to concerted lobbying efforts by the advertising industry. The first step may just be voluntary measures, to be released this fall."

1 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Firefox extension? by wvmarle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There must be a FF extension that can do just that by now. I can't imagine that there are no paranoid nerds that haven't thought of this.

    And if there is no FF extension then the required functionality is probably impossible to do browser-side.

    Actually I am wondering how they track behaviour, and what a browser can do to prevent it. I can think of a few bits:

    - Cookies. The obvious one. Third-party cookies especially. Can be blocked in FF and other browsers for more than a decade already.

    - Referrer tags in URLs. Sometimes useful - especially for sites to see where visitors originate - but also for the end user. E.g. after a Google search you go to some web page that then highlights your search terms. Seems trivial to block in your browser as your browser puts the referrer tag in the http request.

    - IP address. Naturally public information. Can not be blocked, ever. Merely obfuscated by using tor or so.

    - Browser ID. Can easily be faked. But is usually constant for a user, allowing them to be traced anyway using this and the IP address. Also between cooperating web sites. And of course third-party ad providers who in turn can follow IP addresses over their customer's web sites. Those third parties can be (partly) blocked by e.g. AdBlock Plus, only partly as the visited web site can still give your info (IP address, page visited) to the ad company, even when the actual ads are blocked.

    That's all that I can think of at the moment, there may be more ways to follow a user. But I don't see much that can be done on the browser-side to stop more tracking.