GitHub Joins Movement Against Google's FLOC (inside.com) 21
An anonymous reader quotes Inside.com's developer newsletter:
GitHub is blocking Google's new third-party cookie tracking alternative, Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), across all of GitHub Pages. Those GitHub Pages served from the github.io domain will now come with a Permissions-Policy: interest-cohort=() header set, although Pages sites with custom domains will not.
Several big names have also spoken out against the new alternative and implemented similar moves. WordPress is proposing automatically blocking FLoC by default on its websites, dubbing it a security risk. However, WordPress says it may add a setting that will enable admins to control whether FLoC is allowed.
Firefox, Brave, and Vivaldi have also issued similar moves...
One web developer recently published a guide showing others how to opt their site out of Google's FLoC Network. Developer Paramdeo Singh shows you how to ensure your web server doesn't participate in the network by adding a custom HTTP response header to web and proxy server configurations.
Several big names have also spoken out against the new alternative and implemented similar moves. WordPress is proposing automatically blocking FLoC by default on its websites, dubbing it a security risk. However, WordPress says it may add a setting that will enable admins to control whether FLoC is allowed.
Firefox, Brave, and Vivaldi have also issued similar moves...
One web developer recently published a guide showing others how to opt their site out of Google's FLoC Network. Developer Paramdeo Singh shows you how to ensure your web server doesn't participate in the network by adding a custom HTTP response header to web and proxy server configurations.
Re:Okay... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well it is Google, so you can be certain of two things:
- The user-facing UI and functionality is very useful, very polished, very professional, incredibly useful and addictive
- The backend is designed to put you under as much surveillance as possible, and steal as much of your personal data, and isn't in your best interest
The idea of course being that the shiny front-end is so addictive that you forget how nasty and creepy the back-end is, or you give in to keep using it.
In this case, the shiny is Chrome of course.
Re: (Score:2)
Well it is Google, so you can be certain of two things:
- The user-facing UI and functionality is very useful, very polished, very professional, incredibly useful and addictive
True of Search, Chrome, Translate.
Sort-of Gmail once you remove all the shit from the left-hand panel and resolve deep in your heart to live with whichever ordering the "Send As" dropdown gives you and to never really know what the fuck "Treat as Alias" means, sort-of Maps until you want to do something like disable Globe view or use a different date for satellite/Street View imagery, maybe true for Books, Scholar, and Photos but all those are basically just Search with a different database, so it's not cle
Re:Okay... (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead of "This is Google" you should have written "This is Doubleclick"
The original Google, whose advertising technology was based on mathematics and site content died when it tried to swallow the scumshite adf*cker parasite. The Doubleclick parasitic life form took full control of its bodily functions and has been driving the empty (and growing) hulk of Google ever since.
While at it - anything that will put us back towards the "ad derived from site content" paradigm instead of creepware is good in my book. Github decided to screw 'em? Excellent. More of the same.
Thrice the revenue (Score:2)
While at it - anything that will put us back towards the "ad derived from site content" paradigm instead of creepware is good in my book.
It'll be an uphill battle, as advertisers have shown willingness to pay three times as much per page view for creepware (interest-based ads) compared to the previous "ad derived from site content" paradigm (contextual ads). This could be because creepware has produced a greater click-through rate and/or a better conversion rate per click.
None of this is any good unless we can block it. (Score:1)
If we have to depend on somebody else, then all bets are off.
How's "DNT: 1" working for you? (Score:5, Insightful)
Asking the bully nicely does not work. Chrome is the problem. So GitHub tells the browser not to include GitHub in the calculation of your interests. Let's assume Google actually ignores your visits to GitHub and doesn't use the number of "privacy conscious" sites you visit as another data point: How many other web sites do you visit which will gladly participate because your browser will send them information about you with every visit? If you're using Chrome, you're part of the problem.
Re: (Score:3)
What's Chrome? Is that the privacy-weakened version of Edge?
Re: (Score:2)
Oh that's darling. Have you seen how many different "telemetry" services Microsoft installs with each product?
Yes. And, with Microsoft having set the bar that high, Google beating it is quite an accomplishment in evilness.
Re: (Score:1)
Have you seen how many different "telemetry" services everything installs with each product?
FTFY.
Fuck, even FOSS software pushes telemetry by default now. The idea Microsoft is somehow exceptionally evil in terms of telemetry is hilarious; the only reason you think that is because they ask you. Facebook, Google, et. al. just take without even asking.
The problem with folks like you still fighting the Microsoft vs. FOSS battle of the 90s is that you're at severe risk of harming privacy and security causes bec
Re: (Score:2)
It's the version of Edge that works on X11/Linux without requiring first purchasing a retail Windows license* and adding enough RAM to run another whole operating system in a virtual machine. (Source: Microsoft Edge Supported Operating Systems) [microsoft.com]
* OEM Windows is licensed for use as a host, not a VM guest.
Re: (Score:2)
It's the version of Edge that works on X11/Linux without requiring first purchasing a retail Windows license* and adding enough RAM to run another whole operating system in a virtual machine.
Don't worry - Edge for Linux [microsoftedgeinsider.com] is already in beta...
Re: (Score:1)
Right, the opt-out scheme is stupid. In this case, it's the server that sends a stupid header:
Permissions-Policy: interest-cohort=()
When the "do not track" client request header was proposed and first added to FireFox, it seemed like maybe those folks were just naive. But Google is proposing this one, and they know exactly what they're doing.
Ya, but ... (Score:5, Funny)
Will there be an exception for a FLOC of this [github.com]?
Re: (Score:3)
Only if you ran. So far away. Night and day.
Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) (Score:3)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is that supposed to mean?
A cohort is a sub group of a Roman Legion.
Re: (Score:3)
A cohort is a subgroup in your data. In this case a cohort is a group of people who should be shown the same ads.
We don't speak Latin, we speak English (see also futbol/soccer).
Re: (Score:1)
It's basically the same as cookies, except instead of dutifully keeping you informed of every Rick Astley concert, album, and body pillow released over the past decade because your shithead cousin Rickrolled you once in 2009, it now shows you ads for Rick Astley concerts, albums, and body pillows because everyone else on the sites you visit got Rickrolled once in 2009.
Re: (Score:3)
Federated Learning of Cohorts (Score:2)
Are they gleaming in purple and gold?