Microsoft Brings Tracking Prevention To Its Edge Browser (engadget.com) 67
Microsoft is testing features that block companies from tracking you across different websites in its Chromium-based Edge browser. Engadget reports: Insider beta testers with the latest Canary release on Windows can try it by enabling a browser flag (enter - "edge://flags#edge-tracking-prevention" in the address bar) then restarting. Once it's on, there are three different levels of blocking, with intentions to filter out only known malicious trackers, some third-party trackers that are used for ad targeting or all third-party tracking entirely. Microsoft demonstrated the feature at its Build 2019 event earlier this year, so even if you're not in that test group you can get a peek at it right here.
Re: Why not (Score:1)
Maybe a better question would be why you cranks have changed the subject to W10 tracking.
Re: (Score:1)
That would be counter-productive from Microsoft's point of view.
A better question to ask is, why hasn't Microsoft added a feature to replace the third party advertisements and trackers it is blocking with Microsoft brokered advertisements and tracking instead?
Perhaps they already have and we just don't realize it yet? Because really, blocking Google brokered advertisements on the web while continuing your own OS level brokered advertisements/tracking means that eventually, all the advertising revenue will h
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Microsoft doesn't work with ANYONE besides itself as a "team." The only reason why Microsoft might work with the deep state is because the deep state controls the world's money printing and military. Otherwise, Microsoft would screw them too, just like they do with everybody else.
Wine doesn't run on Arm CPUs (Score:2)
why hasn't Google joined up with Steam to help bring WINE to 100% compatibility with all legacy Windows apps so that Linux can finally fully overthrow Windows?
For one thing, Wine doesn't run on Arm CPUs and thus doesn't run on an Arm-powered Chromebook or an Arm-powered Android tablet.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
give us an option to disable all W10 tracking?
Obviously you have failed to understand the entire point of this feature in a Microsoft operating system.
Microsoft doesn't want other people tracking you so they can maximize the value of their telemetry that will continue to be bought and sold.
How about bringing it to the OS? (Score:1)
Windows is the worst offender by far. The amount of telemetry and personal data it gives up is frightening.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
This.
People read "telemetry" and immediately think "profiling", the way an advertising company might go about it. This is not the goal. Unlike you-know-who, consumer profiling isn't MS's bread and butter. For one thing, I've had the same Hotmail account since the mid-90s; these days the account is linked with my Windows 10 login, and looking at the data they're collecting on me (they have a dashboard for that), they're still pretty much clueless as to what sort of consumer I might be. It's laughably use
Possibility of a subpoena (Score:2)
Windows 10 "basic" telemetry still sees all applications and device drivers installed on a PC. Whatever information Microsoft collects a government agency could subpoena as part of some fishing exp^W^W investigation of alleged "circumvention."
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Re: Great: telemetry disabled (Score:1)
So the fix is for consumers to buy Chromebooks and climb into the cage that Google helpfully provides for their protection?
Good news (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm glad another major browser has joined this movement, especially blocking 3rd party cookies. It breaks some web sites, but hopefully they will be fixed as more and more users find they don't work and complain.
"Please choose Disable protection or subscribe" (Score:2)
It breaks some web sites, but hopefully they will be fixed
Nope. Sites already respond to Firefox tracking protection with "Please choose 'Disable protection for this site' or subscribe." This is because advertisers are willing to pay three times the CPM for ad placement that targets a viewer's Internet-wide interests compared to ad placement that targets only the context of the document where it appears.
Re: "Please choose Disable protection or subscribe (Score:2)
I find that for sites like the nytimes, you can just set noscript to not allow any scripts from nytimes and the paywall just disappears. Probably along with a lot of other crap their "web developers" hope to run on your systeem.
To get "all the news thats fit to print" just disallow the nytimes from doing anything other than print text to your browser.
Re: (Score:2)
Over on Stack Exchange they claimed that turning off ad-blockers doesn't help them financially, because they only really make any money from people who actually click on ads.
Having said that, I was thinking about things like airline booking sites that break if you block 3rd party cookies. For some reason they like to bounce you around different domains.
Triple the CTR (Score:2)
they only really make any money from people who actually click on ads.
Ads targeted to interests inferred through surveillance can achieve higher click-through rate (CTR) than ads targeted to context. At a given cost per click (CPC), tripling the CTR would triple the equivalent cost per thousand impressions (CPM) that the publisher sees.
Re: (Score:2)
It is indeed a good thing, although I suspect they could implement world peace in the Edge browser and we'd still not trust it.
Microsoft appear less evil than they once were, but features like telemetry and tricking people into "upgrades" suggest they're still a long way from trustworthy. Since you have to trust your browser really isn't allowing tracking to take place, that trust is a bit of a tall order knowing how many other ways MS has abused us.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What sort of fox?
Fire maybe?
How old is the fox?
General availability November 2004. (Source: BBC [bbc.co.uk])
MIKKKROSOFT? (Score:2)