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NSA Uses Google Cookies To Pinpoint Targets For Hacking
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "For years, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the use of commercial tracking tools to identify and target consumers with advertisements. The online ad industry has said its practices are innocuous and benefit consumers by serving them ads that are more likely to be of interest to them. Now the Washington Post reports that the NSA secretly piggybacks on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using 'cookies' and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance. The agency uses a part of a Google-specific tracking mechanism known as the 'PREF' cookie to single out an individual's communications among the sea of Internet data in order to send out software that can hack that person's computer. 'On a macro level, "we need to track everyone everywhere for advertising" translates into "the government being able to track everyone everywhere,"' says Chris Hoofnagle. 'It's hard to avoid.' Documents reviewed by the Post indicate cookie information is among the data NSA can obtain with a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act order. Google declined to comment for the article, but chief executive Larry Page joined the leaders of other technology companies earlier this week in calling for an end to bulk collection of user data and for new limits on court-approved surveillance requests."
The EU is right on this one...
Just do it, you moron. You don't need to ask anyone, you can just stop the bulk collection of user data.
Big data monopolies like Google are the stuff of nightmare for privacy-minded individuals.
But there's a silver lining to that particular cloud: as the most important player in the field, they're the most visible target for abuse of all kinds. Which means that you have a better chance of dodging the abuse if you simply don't put yourself in the center of the target, by not using any Google product.
Kind of like when Windows had the lion's share of the OS market, and you could avoid most viruses by running another OS, not because the other OS was more secure, but because virus writers had a better return on investment writing viruses for Windows and left your fringe OS alone.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
A CEO of one of the most successful US Corporations in the entire world wants to put an end to data gathering, and doesn't somehow fucking get that their company exists only because they are in the business of data gathering.
Oh, I love how they pander to us while continuing to shake hands with the devil. You act like they're going to turn away one of their largest customers.
Don't get me wrong, businesses like Google almost have to take this stance "against" the enemy of the People, else they risk losing other portions of their customer base. I simply don't like being lied to by them any more than I like being lied to by my own government.
In the end, nothing will change. Nothing. The US government won't allow it. You're a fool to think otherwise.
not a surprise, these people are giving each other foot jobs under the table
Personally, the collection of privacy relevant information by private companies like Google is way more scary than what a government fools around with.
And don't come, it's voluntary. It's anything but, considering how many sites include elements from Google/Facebook/... (e.g. ads or like buttons), and they DO track you even if you are not a registered user. And the end user tools to customize browser behavior (to suppress unwanted elements of a webpage) are mostly non-available on mobile platforms
Worse, as is the "fundamental law" of privacy & data collection, any data collected will be abused. (Classical example, when the truck toll system in Germany was introduced, it was only allowed by the data privacy commissioner because it's absolutely illegal to use the data for anything but tolling. Couple years later, new government, and immediately "let's use the toll data for law enforcement" is a nice idea in the back rooms.)
So Google might be collecting "anonymous" data about person X, not knowing who X is, but that does not mean that the identity of X cannot be revealed later on, or be known by a third party.
Worse, anonymizing data (removing the parts that identify the user and potentially replacing them by a random id) is way harder, e.g. an interested adversary can usually reconstruct the identities, sometimes even trivially.
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: We gave you a decentralized network capable of self-healing in the face of thermonuclear war -- Packets routed around cities moments after they've vanished. Then you took the Internet, and built centralized data silos with it like fools. There is no such thing as a client and server, there are only peers that wear those hats. From here you look silly with them glued firmly in place.
There's no reason not to have your own recommendation engine in your own home. There's no reason to send personal messages and pictures to a third party just so your friends and family can see them too. As I've said: You will decentralize services, or the web will die by the folly. It may yet be too late. It would be wise to plan on a re-beginning.
Repent. The end is incredibly fucking nigh!
I'd say this is to be expected after all the revelations. Why leave a gold mine like Google cookies unused when the whole point is to end all privacy?
This might cause Google to gather less data or give users the option to remove online profiles they have on you.
Altough that seems unlikely, because lets face it Google does not care about privacy, they only care about customers not trusting their service anymore.
till some hacker group uses NSA backdoors to cause mayhem in in US computers. Cookies are more or less harmless, as most of the privacy you lost with them is already lost by some other NSA program. But the NSA (and associated groups) backdoors are a bit more versatile, they are prepared to go into offensive mode, and probably a lot of US citizens have them installed (I don't think it is limited to just Tor, or social networks users).
And yes, they can cause mayhem in non-US computers, but how you know that it wasn't intended to happen by the NSA or some related company? The bombs are already in place.
(n/t)
...I kid, I kid. But seriously, maybe the question should be WHY does anyone use Google anymore?
like a make work job until a real enemy shows up? enemize all of us at once? phewww.
free the innocent stem cells never a better time to trust in momkind our centerpeace
This firefox plugin deletes the PREF cookie and all the others as soon as you close a tab. This means that it's created again every time with a different value.
I went to youtube and got this (I must split the values with spaces because /. complaints about long strings of letters)
google.com PREF ID=b59d89f696da3efa:FF=0: TM=1386759139:LM=1386759139:S=mRC2qiDMZ3ir_5JK
google.com NID 67=c1dV2B25sq3P2XdfPrBzGx9yb89H089A9yORn8UeoYGlGbjOUIbHPs03t_7JesDo_7NcnT UlDm90BZEpoSPX9A7FmbYORqBl5WwLmUiCzjreycq2wGE1rAMOSuXlFaZg
I closed the tab, waited for the cookie destruction message, went to google.com:
google.com PREF ID=024924c1c44d8beb:U=9b9ed7f900bfc1f0:FF=0: TM=1386758246:LM=1386759139:S=GCtQO6AoyqL-fqze
google.com NID 67=lPuV792TXm6MLVCnzVYUN-U2Q7B-XRd1d5xCYp7DXjvXvKzEjxtn99DTIbvaFFIg9a8uk2 AmkokD1TaYRnXL3iNA9SrPc1hj3611xY66gObS6pCY4jTTMeQpF6YHLJnn
Different. Well, mostly different. That LM=1386759139 in both PREF worries me. I should understand what it is for.
How can Larry Page object to bulk collection of user data? Isn't that exactly what Google is designed to do?
if you continue to use google for searches, discontinue this practice immediately and instead use duckduckgo.com
Keep a whitelist of cookies you're willing to accept, and accept them only for the session in which they are generated. this type of limitation can be controlled in Firefox's preferences under privacy. you should routinely delete the whitelist, as a periodic audit of what you need is more expensive than simply rewhitelisting your most visited sites and discarding the one-time stuff you no longer need.
at one time there was a slashdot article on 4 things you can do to increase your privacy as outlined by the EFF, however i cant find it and see no harm in reposting it.
1. use adblock plus
2. use noscript
3. use HTTPS everywhere
4. block any and all cookies, as mentioned above, with strict whitelisting for banks and reputable online merchants.
newer nerds to slashdot may reconsider the virtues of using mutt, cone, or alpine for email as they effectively render tracking pixels and malicious http content an exercise in futility on the part of the sender. RMS uses links/lynx for all of his web browsing, and while that may be a bit extreme for most of us, it certainly cant hurt to use it for opening email links should you be faced with the necessary evil of a questionable URL.
Good people go to bed earlier.
abuse victims abuse......
How about someone develop benign virus that spreads easily, then browses everywhere similar to a spider or crawler and resets it's own cookies (and/or built in creds for various data gathering sites), frequently. With a relatively low CPU and network footprint, a big enough botnet doing just this would make just about all data collection pointless, as the SNR would become problematic.
Silence is a state of mime.
The reality is that Government and Corporations are on the same side and none of them want to get rid of the tracking.
"Larry Page joined the leaders of other technology companies earlier this week in calling for an end to bulk collection of user data"
Isn't that what google does?
This is what is called journalism from reputable publications these days.
A worthwhile addendum to that law would be a "like/dislike" button so that you can leave and say why you're leaving (because they won't work without cookies).
A part of the law not noted is that you have to state WHY you put cookies in and you can ONLY use cookies for that purpose. This is why many UK-only sites have a series of "cookies allowed" options.
1) Bare minimum to continue processing. I.e. a cookie for identification for the site.
2) Enhanced utility cookies. I.e. cookies that allow you do do more things. I.e. a one-click-shop
3) Full eXperience. I.e. a "Take all these cookeis from everyone!! They're great!"
but if I get a "We use cookies" and no opton to use the site without them, I leave. But they then don't know how many customers they're losing. A click to say "I don't like them, I'm outahere" lets me say that I'm off.
We do need to understand this --- tracking can NOT be totally eliminated.
Cookie tracking is but one of the various ways they use to track us. The report @ http://truththeory.com/2013/12/10/how-to-see-what-government-agency-is-spying-on-your-phone/ tells us about another way (they hack the prepaid phones and track the unique IPs).
No matter if you are an idiot or a tin-foil hatter, you gotta understand that there is only so much you can do.
The world we live in a FREE WORLD for the Big Brothers (commercial or otherwise) to do whatever they want with us.
Even if you only use cash / bitcoin to do purchases, they _still_ can find ways to "understand" you.
I may sound like a defeatist, I may sound as if I have given up. I am not.
I am a realist, though.
No matter what step (or steps) I take to minimize my exposure, they know who I am, where I am, with whom I am, my favorite watering hole, the usual kind of food I take, my regular schedule, and so on...
In one of my previous posts (some moons ago) I mentioned that we need to keep alert 24/7, and someone replied that if I keep on doing that I'm going to go bonker.
Perhaps I have already gone bonker, but then, that's what Big Brothers want anyway.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
> To block them you need to either completely block javascript which will break many if not modern web pages [...]
Well, that's exactly what I do. Blanket ban on Javascript coming from "out there". Only exception: company-internal stuff (because the dorks here are unable to present an interface which works without). For that, I use a separate browser profile.
And there is just one site (no, it ain't Slashdot, that's why I always go Anonymous Coward. I'd be a regular user if there were a cookie-free way to do it! Heck, I'd even help out in developing one) for which I do enable cookies from time to time (deleting them after the editing session).
Whenever a site goes Javascript-only... good riddance.
Yes, it's a bit extreme, and I wouldn't expect Jane User to do likewise, but I'm actually a bit disappointed that so very few geeks do try.
We could make a difference.
what did they say about absolute power again?
I did. Not only with NSA but also with other authorities. I live in Germany so NSA is not that much of concern to me (yes I do know they see my data too but I meant jurisdiction) but we have plenty of our own authorities in Germany. It is however not only lost patience with spying organisations but generally with societal control over state activities, social system failing delivering justice for instance by which I do not mean that hands should be chopped off of thieves in suits but that some common sense should be applied to justice and it should be transparent. I lost patience with fellow citizens too for they are stupid and lazy and do not use any sens or logic but are deceitful liars ready to cut your throat for personal pleasure if benefit is not possible. I think it is time to take things in our own hands. It means of course violence - I do not think it is avoidable as people rarely can use reason if not threatened with violence. I find that to be a sign of times that there is no connection between trigger, reason for action and action itself anymore. In Germany we have highway toll for lorries that is to help state health systems and tax on cigarettes to help pension systems (or other way around). It is the same with security - we will fuck your rights because some rapists who we let go because of our stupidity and who raped a small child but we do it not to protect the child but because we want to have right wing on our side. Our society became too complex and its parts to disconnected from each other to function properly as a society. We have to take responsibility into our hands and do something against the destruction of social cohesion. Of course it is clear to me that we then hand the wrong ones but we do not want to be the only ones that hesitate and think 'why', before going ballistic. Let us sink in holy violence before it is applied to us at any of numerous visible and invisible checkpoints. Better to have them than us on the sharp end of an ax.
Antiphorm http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20512864-antiphorm-lite or "cookie camouflage" would be easy and effective at creating a "digital haystack" so big that NSA could not monitor it. But Antiphorm disappeared, and
Gently reply
No, the advertising industry wants to target ads to us to benefit themselves, and in the process they've made everything we do tracked, monitored, cataloged, and neatly bundled up for sale to someone else.
And since I am not willing to provide them with this, I feel no compunction about blocking cookies, beacons, analytics, and a host of other things.
For website owners who rely on this, too fucking bad. Because your precious content isn't worth trading my privacy for, and I do not give a damn. It's like going to an Italian Restaurant and being told that Vinnie here also needs to get a cut.
I don't believe Google is really interested in stopping collecting user information. They may want to limit what the government can access, and they want to give the appearance of fighting for the consumer. But the big companies like Google who have really made this widespread have a huge financial interest in continuing this practice.
Once you have things like Ghostery and the like installed, and realize just how much crap is on every web page, it's astounding. Hell, right now, on Slashdot I've blocked "Google Analytics", "Google AdWords Converter", a "Scorecard Research" beacon, and whatever the hell "Janrain" is, and something called rpxnow.com -- and Slashdot isn't the "worst" site I've seen. But absolutely none of those sites is entitled to (or is actually receiving) any of my information.
Fuck the lot of them. I've more or less determined the internet is a place where 80% of the big players can't be trusted, so as much as possible, I just deny them the information they want in the first place.
Because, let's face it, doubleclick.com and the like have been douchebags for better part of 15 years. Why would we assume that would ever change?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
"not because the other OS was more secure"
Bollocks.
Windows OS was definitely less secure than Linux. By a long shot.
It was ALSO more prevalent and therefore infection spread easier for that AS WELL.
Your claim requires proof. Because there's fuck all about "it's more prevalent" that disallowes "less secure" from being true too.
the problem HERE lies with the National Security Act which allows them to get this data from Google without having to jump through the hoops of having to provide due cause and a proper warrant. National Security Letters should be outlawed...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
"Because what happens is a site says: either allow my cookies or I will not, or not fully, serve you. And because the average user..."
It's worse than that.
I'm somewhere in the middle of the pack. My "user side" skills are certainly a step above newbie. But when the "cookies and friends" are mashed into the loading process for a site from twelve component domains, you can't always just blindly turn them off either! Monster.com comes to mind... there are others.
So then if you're clever sometimes you can custom select which cookies to allow, but already that's losing the war. "I don't think I can stop them all..." - Magneto from X-Men movie 1.
The best I can hope to do is slow the tsunami down into a slow roar. : (
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I've had enough of the NSA. I'm going to unplug from the Internet. I'll just yank this cord from my keyb
...when they call "for an end to bulk collection of user data" by private entities as well
I have come to think as APK as Jesus, and us the pharises. He came to tell us the truth about HOSTS files and we called him a kook. Well, he was, but you can use a hosts file to block the various google analytics and ad servers. So block those domains one way or another. And if you have a website, don't use google analytics. Your access logs give you much of that information without handing over control and information to google.
Is there really anyone here who allows their cookies to persist from one session to the next?
The cynic in me suggests Google is sending a big "If you want us to keep doing this, we'll need more money" message to the government. I hope I'm wrong, and that google wants to end this regardless of what they get offered.
And so did you, apparently.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I guess it would have been a less compelling story if it didn't have the anti-advertising bent, and was more along the lines of "NSA uses web analytics cookies to pinpoint users."
Uniquely identifying web browsers by assigning a unique ID into a cookie has been a core behavior of the web analytics industry for over 15 years. You want to know how many unique visitors are coming to your web site? Assign an ID!
If advertising didn't exist, and Google remained the most popular website, the NSA would still have a unique client identifier. They'd also probably have more details, since the main alternative to advertising is subscription, which would require (with current technology) disclosure of actual personal information.
Sure, but you can happily accept all cookies and drop them when your browser exits. It's quite easy to configure your browser to do this, and those web sites won't be able to tell the difference. If you're getting a third-party cookie from an advertiser who doesn't require a login, you'll look like a completely different person as far as they're concerned. Getting rid of persistent data from flash may be a little more tricky depending on which browser you use, but that's just that much more reason not to ever browse any web sites that require the use of flash.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Oh, please.
I see a plenty of "OP is a fag"-like comments disliked by "kids here" and modded troll as well - doesn't mean that /.'s the most popular news resource for LGBT community.
He's objecting to the Government asking Google for the bulk data they collect. They can do it three ways:
* Just ask for it, and say "due to the third-party doctrine you have no legal reason to refuse"
* Show up with a National Security Letter, take the data, and say "this is OK due to FISA oversight. BTW, you can't tell anyone about this."
* Copy the data as it passes through the thoroughly suborned telecom infrastructure, without even asking.
Bulk data collection by Google is potentially bad. Bulk data collection by the Government is worse - Google can't arrest me.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
I guess we're just supposed to assume that any reports like this were made possible by Snowden unless someone says otherwise?
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
---
A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
---
* "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
(Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see))
---
** "Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
(Vs. slowing down SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE in addons which slow them down more: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts - A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself)
APK
P.S.=> "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
I guess being owned by China means we need to be run more and more like China. Thanks Obama.
While I do appreciate the ongoing releases of how we are tracked, mostly for the less technical crowd to come up to speed, I think it's time to realize that if you are connected to any network with any device, regardless of what "security" measures you take, you will be tracked.
USRP
https://www.ettus.com/product
Software Defined Radio used to spoof Cell towers. Looks like NSA is deploying SDRs everywhere. This is more interesting than some google cookie.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
To block specific versions of data-gathering, because they have alternate ways to do it already, but assume that their competition doesn't have such alternate methods available (or are too small to implement them).
Thank you very much for your correction.
English is the 5th language that I learned, so, please excuse me for my broken england.
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
---
A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
---
* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )
APK
P.S.=> * "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
** "Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
*** "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
---
A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
---
* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )
APK
P.S.=> * "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
** "Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
*** "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
---
A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
---
* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )
APK
P.S.=> * "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
** "Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
*** "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
---
A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
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* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )
APK
P.S.=> "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
"Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
"The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
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APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
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A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
---
* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) - Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )
APK
P.S.=> * "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
** "Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
*** "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk