Congratulations, if you use Verizon, AT&T, Bell Canada, Bharti Airtel, Cricket, Telefonica de Espantilde;a, Viettel Peru S.a.c., Vodafone NL or Vodafone Spain as your provider your browsing is being tracked and there is nothing you can do about it. These providers have assigned your device a unique token which the provider injects into every HTTP request your device makes, the cookie is actually external to your device and so you have no way to remove it. You will see targeted ads based on your browsing no matter how many times you remove cookies or even factory reset your phone. Verizon has now made it an opt-out feature and The Register has been told that AT&T no longer injects the 'super cookie' into headers but based on businesses recent behaviour it is probably because they have found a better way to track you.
"At least nine telcos around the world are using so-called super-cookies to secretly monitor citizens' online behavior, according to a new study."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Seagate and pals form key-value hard-drive Kinetic gang @ The Register
- Samsung slaps Galaxy S6 Edge+ with eye-watering £750 price tag @ The Inquirer
- Windows 10 PC sales boost? Don't hold your breath, say analysts @ The Register
- Qualcomm still supplies modem chips for next iPhone, sources claim @ DigiTimes
- Microsoft offers virtual Windows 10 for Edge browser development @ The Inquirer
- Multiple Vulnerabilities Exposed In Pocket @ Slashdot
- Sony α7R II, Cyber-shot RX10 II & Cyber-shot RX100 IV Launch @ Tech ARP
Disappointing, but not really
Disappointing, but not really a surprise.
I think these continual revelations about the depth of snooping and tracking make the Free Software Foundation and the Replicant project look less and less like insanity and more and more like the only reasonable response to what has been happening.
This is why everywebsite
This is why everywebsite should use SSL/TLS!
Yes, but that won’t help with
Yes, but that won't help with this particular way of tracking you.
I know they still track you
I know they still track you base on metadata. But at least with TLS you can prevent them from sending you aditional ads.
Nothing to do with metadata,
Nothing to do with metadata, every http request sent on these networks has a unique identifier … not going to help you in this case.
For the Bell Canada Networks,
For the Bell Canada Networks, I read last year or so that it was their new way of monetizing your usage as less people are using their TV Bundle services and going over to Internet only services. It was even written on their new policy changes.
Because they are unable to make a profit from ads on the TV Networks, they’ve dipped into this backdoor approach. I heard that you could opt-out, but it’s not a complete opt-out option, it’s more of a less aggressive option.
I’m not subscribed to any Bell Networks for one of those reasons. And as far as I know, the Service Providers that I am subscribed with, aren’t using their Networks. Although might eventually, as their billing system have been changed per new Bell policies. 🙁 It’s a monopoly parasite… :'(
Tri-opoly paradise?
Tri-opoly paradise?
It’s a truly great time to be
It’s a truly great time to be Russian (a citizen of a country where this shit is simply not tolerated by any means whatsoever and is actually being purged by the authorities).
Attention marketing
Attention marketing assholes:
I specifically avoid buying products i see in advertisements.
Continue wasting your time deluding yourselves into believing that anyone is stupid enough to click on ads.
Well said Aramaki.
I’ve
Well said Aramaki.
I’ve always avoided buying stuff that advertisers tell me I should buy. Do they not realize that by constantly annoying people with intrusive ads, they are actually alienating the prospective market they are running after.
I wonder if “Privacy Badger” https://www.eff.org/privacybadger
would actually work against this specific tracking cookie.
Informed consumers will seek
Informed consumers will seek out products based on their needs and look for factual information to assist them in the decision making process.
Thats why sites like this are great. I browse from my phone and leave ads on for it. Exploit mitigations are more important than ad blockers anyway.
Here’s to Dumb old flip
Here’s to Dumb old flip phones, and never using the Phone for anything but calls. Get some Tablets out there running some Full Linux distros and ad-blockers installed on the browsers. I’m sill surfing mostly from a laptop, and those ad spaffers will get none of my business for any of their clients. Android is nothing more than Ad-ware on top of the Linux Kernel, and let’s hope that there will be Steam OS based gaming Tablets, and then I can purchase my first Tablet. Windows 10 has also completely adopted the ad-ware/spy-ware mantra so it will also be on my list to be avoided, including any new laptop hardware which I can not get factory downgraded to 7, or with a full Linux based distro.
Business is not going to get any better for the PC/Laptop market, and I’m hoping that more of the companies that sell Linux Based laptops begin to sale some Carrizo based laptops with the Full Wattage Carrizo Parts in a NON thin and light laptop form factor. Screw all this thin and light design ethos. I want the good old regular laptop form factor, running a full wattage laptop part, and not some 15 watt thermally constrained load of crap.
Watch out for those Laptops that come with windows 10 factory installed, there my not be any windows secure-boot off switch in the UEFI/BIOS should the user want to load an alternative OS that does not have a secure-boot Key signed by M$. Hopefully the Valve/Steam OS market will Brand a Steam OS based gaming laptop as I love to have that option. Be very careful when purchasing any new laptop hardware where M$ has it’s hooks into the UEFI/BIOS chain of decision making because things have already happened in the past with the secure boot Keys. Let’s hope we can keep the big ad funded monoliths’ hands off of PC/Laptop hardware, least the entire computing market will be locked down like the smart phone/tablet market walled gardens of ad pushing delights.
I personally dont mind being
I personally dont mind being (peacefully) tracked/advertised too, IF #1 the tracking is done seamlessly instead of spyware that takes 80% of system resources(seriously, what’s up with that?), #2 My info isn’t obsessively spread to the mass public, #3 Advertisements are for products I’m actually interested in, were unaware of and want to buy, (google adds, why do you always try to sell me stuff right after I buy one? Like I bought a video card from newegg then EVERY ADD was for the same card from newegg for the next 4 weeks)
And #4, here is the biggie, I want their advertising dollars to affect my cost. Advertising was once about getting the expensive mass media into the hands of the poor, be it print or broadcast or net-media, giving a reason for the rich to pay for it. These days it seems more and more like a way for those with all the money to get a little bit more. I want them to give me a $0.50 discount for every $1.00 they make from my info, but lets face it, that’s never gonna happen.