History Sniffing

Thread Starter

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
Does this site do history sniffing or participate in any way whatsoever with sites that do? If so, I hope it will let us know and ask that it stop that activity.

Source: FoxNews
SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of websites have been secretly harvesting lists of places that their users previously visited online, everything from news articles to bank sites to pornography, a team of computer scientists found.
<snip>
Current versions of the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers still allow this, as do older versions of Chrome and Safari, the researchers said.
John
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
I use OPERA. I have for many years now.

Anyone using chrome is ASKING for it. And you are TRULY kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

The chrome "bar" is a google search bar. It follows the same TOS as google search.

They record EVERY address, search, sneeze, nose-pick..etc.

And it is already inside your firewall.

Want proof, get a google account with gmail. Dont use gmail yet.
Get chrome.
type www.IloveCoffee.com
type www.caffieneismylove.com
any other coffee esque words/phrases

Using chrome, go to gmail for THE FIRST TIME.

What are the ads you see?

Wha? COFFEE ADS? Wow!?

I dont drink it. Never searched for it at google.com

Chrome was the only way through, as even sniffer sites couldn't get information about me that I dont have.
 

Rbeckett

Joined Sep 3, 2010
208
I too have noticed a major upswing in Norton 360 detecting cookies and intrusion attempts since joining this site. Norton 360 is secure so I never gave it mnuch more thought, but perhaps the site admin might have a look at this and see if it is being added by the server or where it is coming from. Surely the admin/owner is not mining this info and it is happening at some level beyond them. Good eye, John.
Bob
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
I've installed Opera. That part went smoothly, and I can get most settings in a way that is comfortable, if not the same as they were with Firefox. One difference, when I click on a desktop icon that links to an Internet site, I get this error:
Windows cannot find '<linkname>'. Make sure you typed the name correctly...
There is an OK button. I can either close the error box or hit OK and everything works as expected. Any idea what causes that or how to get rid of it? (I tried synchronization with no effect.)

John
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
I've installed Opera. That part went smoothly, and I can get most settings in a way that is comfortable, if not the same as they were with Firefox. One difference, when I click on a desktop icon that links to an Internet site, I get this error:


There is an OK button. I can either close the error box or hit OK and everything works as expected. Any idea what causes that or how to get rid of it? (I tried synchronization with no effect.)

John
I dunno, I have not had a problem.

A real cool option in Opera is MOUSE GESTURES.

You surf with no keyboard.

For instance, to go back a page, you hold the right mouse button and click the left.

To forward, hold left button and click right.

There are MANY more. It really makes searching, surfing, and stuff a breeze.

To open a new tab, you hold left, drag down, release, its that kind of cool stuff.
If you do the above on a link, it opens the new tab with the linked page.

It may have a "call" for another program, that requires firefox to read.

I am not sure.

I dunno, I have not had a problem.

A real cool option in Opera is MOUSE GESTURES.

You surf with no keyboard.

For instance, to go back a page, you hold the right mouse button and click the left.

To forward, hold left button and click right.

There are MANY more. It really makes searching, surfing, and stuff a breeze.

To open a new tab, you hold left, drag down, release, its that kind of cool stuff.
If you do the above on a link, it opens the new tab with the linked page.
 

nerdegutta

Joined Dec 15, 2009
2,684
... I dont like being sniffed...
Depends on the situation. :rolleyes:

I have never thought of that sniffing thing until today. I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 and Firefox. I'm not quite sure the linux-thing will accept anyone sniffing at my history.

Got to do some research...
 

jrap

Joined Jun 25, 2006
1,125
Nope.

We do make use of two services provided by Google though, Analytics and AdSense. If you are concerned, I encourage you to install Adblock - a terrific Firefox plugin.

Thanks,

Rob
 

tyblu

Joined Nov 29, 2010
199
I'm not worried about targeted ads so long as I get the final say in where my money goes. Actually appreciate them, sometimes, pointing out the odd neat item.
 

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
Nope.

We do make use of two services provided by Google though, Analytics and AdSense. If you are concerned, I encourage you to install Adblock - a terrific Firefox plugin.

Thanks,

Rob
I see there are several Opera users in this thread. Further to Rob's suggestion which, as of the current release, doesn't support AdBlock, I recommend you have a look at Fanboy's Opera AdBlock.

Dave
 

jrap

Joined Jun 25, 2006
1,125
For those using Firefox that have plugin/version compatibility issues, you can actually disable the compatibility check

Visit the URL: about:config

Right click on the list and choose ‘New’, followed by ‘Boolean’. Enter the name as ‘extensions.checkCompatibility’ and the value as ‘false’.

via http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/articles/mozilla/disable-extension-check.html
I've had this disabled for years and have yet to run into any compatibility with plugins.
 

Thread Starter

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
I am comparing Firefox to Opera. When I added Adblock Plus to Firefox (yesterday), there was a note that the compatibility bug had been fixed. I'm running Firefox 2.6.12 and Adblock seems to be working.

John
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
See, opera is so awesome, Iw brought jrap and Dave into the same thread. ;)

It is good to see that when concern about the site comes up, you both are still involved.

You love it.
 

R!f@@

Joined Apr 2, 2009
9,918
Firefox 4 seems a bit buggy...I upgraded and the popmenu function is causing refreshing problems ...together with completely black popups....
I have to scroll the page to get rid of 'em.

So rolled back to an earlier version.

:eek: Hey.....How came Dave's level says Ho Ho Ho .

That's a new category :D.

Me wanna ......
 
Top