Mastodawn

Clem Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew I use Chrome on a ChromeOS for banking and job searching. With 2 different google account's.

May I ask why your Infosec friends say why to turn this off?

I already turn this off.

Caroline Bell

@Clementine ChromeOS has a Linux layer. If you own this Chromebook, look up how to enable it and install Firefox. If you don't, ask your administrator to do so, or just get a normal netbook.
This isn't just about ads. If any website can request a copy of your entire personal profile, they can 100% attach it to your real name and whatever information they already have on you, and use it against you.
They could use it to dox you or blackmail you, they could use it to generate more convincing malware based on what has or hasn't worked before (think about those fake download buttons, QR codes, and messenger windows), and that's just off the top of my head.
We don't know what kind of data they're actually collecting, so who knows what it could also be capable of.

Clem Sep 9, 2023

@halotroop2288 I have Firefox installed on my Chromebook

Kent Brewster Sep 9, 2023

@halotroop2288 this is a great explainer, thank you!

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/run-firefox-chromeos

Paul Sep 9, 2023

@halotroop2288 @Clementine This support article should help:

Run Firefox on ChromeOS | Firefox Help

This page explains how to install Firefox on Chromebooks and other devices running ChromeOS.

Christopher Schmidt Sep 9, 2023

@halotroop2288 @Clementine The topics API doesn't give anyone the ability to request "your entire personal profile". It gives websites a list of 3 generic topics of the types of websites you have visited (one for each of the last 3 weeks).

The list of topics is human-curated and public, and contains only generic categories. (specifically, the proposed list is around 450 topics, specifically to prevent individual identification). https://privacysandbox.com/proposals/topics/

Topics API: Relevant Ads without Cookies - The Privacy Sandbox

See how Topics protects online privacy and helps advertisers and sites show relevant ads without third party cookies tracking individuals on the web.

Caroline Bell

@crschmidt
Get out of here, Alphabet worker. Get a new job if you want to be taken seriously here.

Nimbus Sep 9, 2023

Good advice, but I chose to delete Chrome instead.

Dogzilla Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Or, you know, don’t use Chrome

Rai Aren 🖖✨📚🇺🇦Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Good to know, thanks! 👍

Darryl Ramm Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Or better, just uninstall Chrome.

Don Marti Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew good point. Also IT staff who support desktop Google Chrome can turn these off for all users: https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#PrivacySandbox

Chrome Enterprise Policy List & Management | Documentation

Chrome Enterprise policies for businesses and organizations to manage Chrome Browser and ChromeOS.

Chrome Enterprise

Kent Brewster Sep 9, 2023

@dmarti ooooh, okay, thanks! Surely every government sysadmin or government contractor sysadmin would want to do this immediately.

Don Marti Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew yes, also set the Permission-Policy header on web servers you manage, in case a 3rd party script is updated to harvest user info on your site (my checklist so far: https://blog.zgp.org/google-chrome-checklist/ )

Google Chrome ad features checklist

Kent Brewster Sep 10, 2023

@dmarti whoa, your "Browser Topics Tracking and the Prejudiced Landlord Problem" is really good! Especially this:

"Won’t members of protected groups just avoid discrimination by blocking certain topics from being shared, or turning off the topics tracking feature? Well, no, because people who don’t expect to be discriminated against will be less likely to take that action, and the ML system will learn to discriminate that way."

https://blog.zgp.org/prejudiced-landlord/

browser topics tracking and the prejudiced landlord problem

Don Marti Sep 11, 2023

@kentbrew Thank you (that's why imho the people who can have the most impact by choosing privacy settings are people who would otherwise get the *good* ads, not people most likely to be discriminated against)

Prentiss Riddle 🎛Sep 9, 2023

Thanks for this. But I'm torn. I think of myself as valuing privacy, but targeted ads are the aspect of privacy that concerns me least. In fact I find untargeted ads more annoying than targeted ones. If I click on an ad for guitars and see more guitar ads, I like that.

What's more, Google describes these features as a step toward eliminating third-party cookies.

So is there a simple explanation of why I want to turn these off, other than "more privacy is always better"?

Prentiss Riddle 🎛Sep 9, 2023

PS: the anti-Chrome forces already prompted me to switch to Firefox, so maybe the point is moot 🙂

Miakoda

@pzriddle @kentbrew
I'm going to call you mark

Orion Edwards Sep 9, 2023

@pzriddle @kentbrew for me it’s not so much the ads directly, but what unintended problems may arise because of all the data gathered to target those ads.
E.g. let’s say I’m in a minority religion and the ad-tracking systems pick up on that… and then I’m later able to be targeted by a hate group which gains access to that information.
There are multitudes of issues just like that.

Prentiss Riddle 🎛Sep 9, 2023

@borland @kentbrew

Good point. Other examples I've heard focus on vulnerable youth - queer kids outed by their ad profiles, or the classic case of a pregnant teen whose parents start seeing ads for prenatal vitamins and baby products.

Kent Brewster Sep 9, 2023

@borland @pzriddle yes, and don’t forget about people who might become pregnant under regimes where abortion has been banned. Places like Texas.

katzenberger Sep 9, 2023

@pzriddle

Keep a few things in mind:

- "Pleasant" targeted #ads are, kind of, the "dog treats" that you get for allowing #DataBrokers to enrich their respective #profiles of you, for years upon years

- They're sticking harmful labels onto you: https://netzpolitik.org/2023/eu-country-comparison-how-data-brokers-are-screening-us/

- You don't get to choose which tidbits of information get vacuumed into your profiles, and if unprotected, you don't see it happen

- Good privacy settings & addons like uBlock can substantially reduce profiling

Schlagwort: Die Xandr-Recherche

For targeted advertising, data brokers want to know about our bank accounts, children and illnesses. Our data research shows the dimension of this dubious business for the first time in a European country comparison. Experts call it a

netzpolitik.org

katzenberger Sep 10, 2023

In case it helps:

What data brokers call "#segmentation" is never meant to acknowledge what you self-identify as.

It's merely one harmful #label after the other slapped onto you. Harmful because its only purpose is to either extract more #profit from you, or to exclude you from services if you're likely to not contribute to somebody else's earnings.

There are no "mostly harmless" labels, even when those that serve to exclude you are the worst.

@pzriddle
@kentbrew

David E. Fowler Sep 9, 2023

@pzriddle @kentbrew Well said.

This is part of the journey to get rid of third party cookies. The fear mongering about this browser change is misplaced.

When third party cookies go away ad servers will have less data not more. Websites that have ads need that revenue to support content. There may as well be some type of broad interest targeting to make them relevant. Otherwise we are back to the days of nuisance untargeted ads such as those on cable tv or print newspapers.

Howard Lane Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Thank you!

Chris Laprun ⏚Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew @adrianco or, you know, just don’t use Chrome or any of its derivatives… 🙄

n3wjack Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew how about using Firefox instead.
You know at some point this will be turned on by default.

Just J Sep 9, 2023

@n3wjack @kentbrew Mozilla aren't pulling this kind of shit, but they do seem to have spent a lot of time over the years actively trying to piss off their userbase.

Fuck them, and fuck Google. Forks only for this little black duck.

n3wjack Sep 9, 2023

@JDzed @kentbrew firefox fork then?

Just J Sep 9, 2023

@n3wjack @kentbrew Waterfox has been meeting my needs for the things I used to use Firefox for quite satisfactorily for a year or two minimum at this point.

Brave has been meeting my needs that I formerly employed Chrome to fulfill for even longer, I think.

And for other uses, not least it's built in VPN, Opera is my go-to for random investigations of whatever topic I'm curious about today, or this moment.

Jernej Simončič �Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew And if you're a sysadmin at a company, install the latest ADMX Group Policy templates, and set these:

Steve Hill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Or switch to #FireFox

The Spoonless Kitchen Sep 9, 2023

@steve @kentbrew This is the way!

Chris Thompson 🇦🇺Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Vivaldi is free of this Parasitic code, time to switch

Northants Greens Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew or even better switch to #Firefox. Its what we use.

Miakoda

@kentbrew
There is a global setting to disable this...
On Manjaro, you open terminal and run

$ yay librewolf-bin
and
$ sudo pacman -Rns google-chrome

Now it will stay off.

George Baily Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew much easier advice to say stop using googlebrowser

jose Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew I use #chromium for banking/taxes login, etc and for everything else #librewolfbrowser a new top in mastodon ---> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/

Google gets its way, bakes a user-tracking ad platform directly into Chrome

Chrome now directly tracks users, generates a “topic” list it shares with advertisers.

Ars Technica

tuoba denrael Sep 9, 2023

https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium

this project exists too: #ungoogledchromium

GitHub - ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium: Google Chromium, sans integration with Google

Google Chromium, sans integration with Google. Contribute to ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub

Philip Kendall Sep 9, 2023

@kentbrew Absolutely in no way disputing the truth of the statement (i.e. I've just done it), is there a write-up of what these settings do and why they're bad?