Privacy for the web #2
Written by Anachron on 2023-06-30
Read the article or go back.
# Update to my earlier suggestion
The web is broken. Seriously.
I’ve blogged about HTML fingerprinting already, so some readers may be aware of the issue with tracking via the HTML canvas element.
For a few weeks now I seem to have more and more issues with todays websites. In fact, I am getting “Permission Denied” on more and more websites lately.
Believing it could be on my end, I checked whether my IP is blacklisted, the VPN is faulty or alike. But no, it turns out that some websites nowadays block visitors with disabled fingerprinting.
# Why companies do it
I get it, the internet is full of malicious actors trying to break your systems and stealing your precious data that you fought so hard to unrightfully receive and keep just to sell it to third party making money out of it.
However, I don’t think it’s fair to put the burden on privacy aware people. Or even more importantly: I believe that disabled people should not be punished for this!
# What can we do
I am not sure what we can do. Companies will try to find reasons to block privacy settings by blaming it on malicious actors. This is not new. I see more and more services and companies asking for more and more personal data and access to more of my life all in the false claim for security.
It is not YOU, dear company, which needs protection. It’s me, the end user, being an actual human. I don’t buy any of these “You need a thumb scan, iris scan, voice activation” etc. safety claims. None of these are failproof.
And this is my point: Our privacy is invaded with false claims of security, but the offenders never step back. It only becomes worse.
# More suggestions for a safer browsing
If you don’t have it already, block ads and malicious domains via DNS.
Here are some suggestions:
- Change your default router DNS server to something that blocks malicious/ad domains by default
- Set up a VPN if you don’t have it already
- Modify the VPN to use a DNS server that blocks malicious/ad domains
- Do not use browsers or apps that frequently invade your privacy. This is probably the most important part (and also the hardest)
# Afterwords
I think it’s getting clear now that if we care about our privacy (and the privacy of our children and loved ones!) we have to act now. We have to get rid of those invading it and embrace those who support it.
This is why I don’t have twitter or meta, deleted my reddit account and only made a anonym mastodon account.
Currently it’s harvesting time for companies. In around 10-20 years time there will be a new type of issues arising from the data currently harvested from your life.
What will you say to your child when it applies to the job in 10-20 years time but doesn’t get it because the company has a record of it being drunk and another one with similiar skills does not?
What will you say when your special other does not receive a heart transplant because there is a one time drug abuse story that made her regret it but removes her from the list of possible recipiants?
You see, my dear reader, these issues can only be prevented now.
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