Oh, look! Another #groundbreaking scientific article that promises to reveal the secrets of the universe... but only once you've surrendered your browser's soul to #JavaScript and cookies. 🕵️♂️🔮 Because who needs quantum mechanics when you've got web tracking? 🍪🔍
https://physics.aps.org/articles/v18/s149 #science #webtracking #privacy #concerns #quantummechanics #HackerNews #ngated
#webtracking
MediaPost: Google Settlement Over Kids Privacy Moves Forward. “A federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a proposed settlement requiring Google to pay $30 million to resolve class-action claims that it violated children’s privacy by tracking their YouTube activity in order to serve targeted ads.”
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/09/25/mediapost-google-settlement-over-kids-privacy-moves-forward/
Reuters: Google must pay $425m in class action over privacy, jury rules. “A federal jury has determined that Alphabet’s Google must pay $425m for invading users’ privacy by continuing to collect data for millions of users who had switched off a tracking feature in their Google account.”
#Call #ResearchProposals #WebTracking #SurveyData #GESISPanel
Collect Your Own Linked Web Tracking and Survey Data with the GESIS Panel.dbd Digital Behavioral Data Sample
In the recently established GESIS Panel.dbd Digital Behavioral Data Sample, panelists participate in repeated surveys and digital behavioral data collections such as web tracking, where participants' web browsing behavior (including the content of website visits) is recorded.
UC Davis: UC Davis Study Reveals Alarming Browser Tracking by GenAI Assistants. “A new study led by computer scientists at the University of California, Davis, reveals that generative AI browser assistants collect and share sensitive data without users’ knowledge. Stronger safeguards, transparency and awareness are needed to protect user privacy online, the researchers said. “
The Register: Meta used Flo menstruation app data to sell ads, jury finds . “A jury has unanimously found Meta guilty of violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act by using data from menstruation and fertility app Flo to sell advertising to the social network.”
What If Your Phone Didn't Need To Listen To You? - Taylor Lorenz
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Why Are Hundreds of Data Brokers Not Registering with States?. “Hundreds of data brokers have not registered with state consumer protection agencies. These findings come as more states are passing data broker transparency laws that require brokers to provide information about their business and, in some cases, give consumers an easy way to opt out.”
@jon Regulation can work while simultaneously building permissionless #freedomtech that defeats surveillance techniques like #fingerprinting. I love the work #HydraVeil and #Nym are doing in this regard.
#HydraVeilVPN #NymVPN #surveillance #dataprivacy #browserfingerprinting #privacy #webtracking #SurveillanceCapitalism #permissionlesstech #foss #freesoftware #VPN
🖱️ Your mouse movements are being tracked.
Websites can log how fast you scroll, how long you hover, and even how you move your cursor. It’s called mouse fingerprinting, and yes—it’s used to identify you even without cookies.
🧠 Bonus? It can even guess your cognitive load or hesitation.
Disable JavaScript when possible, or use hardened browsers like Librewolf or Tor.
Websites Are Tracking You via Browser Fingerprinting
https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2025/06/websites-are-tracking-you-via-browser-fingerprinting.html
#HackerNews #WebTracking #BrowserFingerprinting #Privacy #DigitalSecurity #CyberAwareness
MakeUseOf: Your Inbox Is Full of Trackers: These 4 Extensions Block Them All. “Did you know that most of the emails you receive have a sneaky, secret tracking pixel designed to snoop on you? Whether spam, marketing, or otherwise, these tracking pixels can send information back to the send—unless you install one of these handy tracker pixel blocking extensions.”
💡Fun fact: Your computer’s battery status API can be used to track you.
Some websites ping battery levels to create a unique fingerprint, even in incognito mode. It’s subtle, creepy—and real.
🛡️ Quick fixes:
• Chrome: Install “Disable Battery API” extension
• Use Brave (built-in protection) or Firefox (already blocks this)
Sky News: Meta found ‘covertly tracking’ Android users through Instagram and Facebook. “Academics at the Radboud University in the Netherlands and IMDEA Networks said they discovered Meta and Yandex have been tracking Android users’ browser activity without their consent and then using the data in their apps. Meta said it was looking into the issue, while Yandex denied collecting any […]
How-To Geek: Using Incognito Mode? These 7 Entities Can Still Track You. “There’s a common perception that using private browsing modes makes it so no one can see which sites you’re using, or what you do on them, but the truth is that the only place these modes hide anything is on your own computer. All of these other entities can see exactly where you’re spending time online.”
NC Newsline: House bill would allow NC consumers to opt out of targeted online ads. “House Bill 462 would allow consumers to confirm whether companies, called ‘controllers’ in the bill, have their personal data. Consumers would be able to obtain their data, have it corrected, or have it deleted. Companies would have to tell consumers what third parties have their personal information. […]
PC World: Brave browser’s newest tool swats away those annoying cookie pop-ups. “I appreciate and respect what the GDPR was trying to accomplish. The hours of corporate training and ‘please let us track you with cookies, we pinky-promise we need them’ messages that appear on nearly every website? Not so much. Now, the latest version of the Brave browser hopes to get rid of them—the […]
#GESISGuide #Webtracking
New GESIS Guide published: “Overview of Working with Web Tracking Data”
Mangold, F., & Stier, S. (2025). Overview of Working with Web Tracking Data (GESIS Guides to Digital Behavioral Data, 23). Cologne: GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
https://doi.org/10.60762/ggdbd25023.1.0
How can web tracking be used as a method for studying digital media use and online behavior? How does web tracking data collections differ from other digital research methods ?
🔍 Ever opened an email & later saw ads for that brand? That’s a web beacon tracking you.
📌 Web beacons (AKA tracking pixels) are invisible 1x1 images that:
✅ Track email opens & location
✅ Log website visits
✅ Work even if cookies are blocked
💡 How to block them:
✔ Disable remote content in emails
✔ Use Firefox + uBlock Origin
✔ Try Tor or Mullvad Browser
Urusai — это реализация "noisy" на Go, предназначенная для генерации случайного HTTP/DNS трафика, создающего фоновый шум, который повышает анонимность и снижает ценность продажи ваших данных.
Проект предлагает конфигурацию через JSON файл, настраиваемые агенты пользователя и черные списки URL. Также доступны регулируемая глубина обхода и интервалы ожидания.
https://github.com/calpa/urusai
**Пояснение:**
**Urusai** — это реализация концепции *"noisy traffic"* на языке Go. Она создаёт случайный HTTP/DNS трафик, который действует как фоновый шум. Это помогает:
✔️ **Усложнить отслеживание** — ваш реальный трафик теряется в случайных запросах.
✔️ **Снизить ценность проданных данных** — алгоритмы рекламных компаний и слежки получают "мусорную" информацию.
**Функции:**
🔹 **Конфигурация через JSON** – гибкие настройки.
🔹 **Настраиваемые User-Agent'ы** – имитация разных браузеров.
🔹 **Чёрные списки URL** – исключение нежелательных адресов.
🔹 **Глубина обхода и задержки** – контролируемая генерация трафика.
Проект на GitHub: Urusai
**Хэштеги:**
#Privacy #CyberSecurity #Anonimity #Infosec #Urusai #GoLang #webtracking
**Как использовать Urusai без глубоких знаний администрирования**
**Urusai** создаёт случайный HTTP/DNS трафик для повышения анонимности. Если вы не администратор и не хотите углубляться в командные строки, вот простой способ запустить его.
**1. Установка**
✅ **Требования:**
Windows, macOS или Linux
Go (если хотите скомпилировать исходники)
Или готовый бинарник с GitHub
**a) Установка через Go (если установлен)**
```sh
go install github.com/calpa/urusai@latest
```
(После этого `urusai` можно запускать из командной строки.)
**b) Скачивание готового бинарника**
Перейдите в репозиторий.
Скачайте версию под вашу ОС (например, `urusai-linux-amd64` или `urusai-windows.exe`).
Распакуйте и запустите.
**2. Запуск**
Простейший вариант:
```sh
./urusai
```
или для Windows:
```sh
urusai.exe
```
Это сразу создаст случайный сетевой трафик.
**3. Настройка через JSON (если хочется точнее настроить)**
Можно создать конфигурационный файл `config.json`, например:
```json
{
"user_agents": ["Mozilla/5.0", "Chrome/98.0"],
"blacklist": ["example.com", "ads.tracker.net"],
"crawl_depth": 3,
"wait_time": 5
}
```
Запуск с настройками:
```sh
./urusai -config config.json
```
**4. Автозапуск (чтобы не включать вручную каждый раз)**
Можно добавить в автозагрузку:
**Windows:** Использовать `Task Scheduler`
**Linux/macOS:** Добавить в `cron` или `systemd`
**Что важно знать?**
⚠️ **Urusai создаёт "мусорный" трафик**, что может вызвать вопросы у провайдера или админа сети.
⚠️ **Не перегружайте сеть**, чтобы не снизить скорость реальных подключений.
⚠️ **Этот инструмент не заменяет VPN/Tor** — он только дополняет приватность, но не анонимизирует полностью.
**Вывод:** Если хотите уменьшить свою цифровую «отпечатку», но не хотите разбираться в сложных настройках — Urusai можно запустить в пару кликов. 🚀
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.07
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst