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Introducing the Invulnerable Evercookie
An anonymous reader writes "Using eight different techniques and locations, a 'security' guy has developed a cookie that is very, very hard to delete. If just one copy of the cookie remains, the other locations are rebuilt. My favorite storage location is in 'RGB values of auto-generated, force-cached PNGs using HTML5 Canvas tag to read pixels (cookies) back out' — awesome."
That's the great thing about evercookie
I disagree. Strongly.
I guess it's good that this is out in the open so we know about it, and hopefully the major browsers can all do something to help prevent it. But still: don't like, don't like at all.
Whenever someone goes through all the trouble of adding additional ways of tracking people - someone goes through all the trouble of finding ways of removing it.
There's no such thing as Invulnerable - See also: DRM and Copy-Protection
That's NoScript at work. If you use BetterPrivacy (another FF extension), it removes the LSO at browser shutdown. YMMV
I take your point, but most people use neither of these things and will be at the mercy of persistent tracking. Of course anyone who doesn't know what a cookie is probably won't be affected by this in any way (i.e. they're already being tracked through regular cookies). Especially since "Private Browsing" modes have been shown to retain information.
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If you have to go to great lengths to work around customers doing things like deleting cookies then you are doing something wrong or evil.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
No. You could also stop using the Internet.
Advertisers and site operators might complain that this behavior costs them revenue, but they should have thought about that before going all Big Brother on us. If you're going to try to trick me into clicking an ad on your site, I don't want anything to do with your site anyway. And I do occasionally click through ads on Slashdot and Google.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
who doesn't know what a cookie is probably won't be affected by this in any way (i.e. they're already being tracked through regular cookies).
There's all kinds of databases on people available. Search and you shall find.
All data circulates easily and is simply very hard to stop. It is indeed like speech, it just happens, anyone can do it. Copyrighted data, personal data, credit data, secret data, whatever. Bottom line, gathering and selling various gray-black-market data is illegal immoral etc, and very doable and very interesting for companies and organizations of all types. Not unlike downloading movies is for many - illegal but easy and interesting data. It's the interests that are different.
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Let's see. A remote website infects your computer with code which does things on your system without your consent and resists your attempts to delete it through the use of hidden copies. I think we have a word for this already. Starts with a V.
Thhe purpose of "Private Browsing" isn't to protect your privacy from websites while you surf, it's to protect your privacy from your SO when she comes home and sees your web history.
I am officially gone from
You're confusing privacy and secrecy.
Hidden form values have the annoying tendency of breaking the back button. That, in my mind, is a far greater sin than cookies.
The ______ Agenda