Browser bypasses put Google in privacy cross hairs

I believe that Microsoft's complaint is way to late to start making a complaint. It's been a couple years in knowing this and now they complain about identity bypass...What's up at Microsoft that is so pressing for them to suddenly make this complaint.

I think Apple has a reasonable concern considering they have always positioned themselves along with taken all the steps to not enable bypassing identity protection. How much Google has to pay? I think before they start targeting Google they should start targeting those who have taken advantage of the bypass for capital gain i.e. Amazon and Facebook which have clearly done so...Charge the advertisers if that's possible too..

bypassed track-blocking software on Apple’s web browser for iPhones and computers was fanned by Microsoft saying Internet Explorer was likewise duped.

Someone with knowledge of the internet and software needs to write these articles, this is a jumble of buzz words that mean nothing.... what the hell is "track-blocking" software?

@gogogo

Basically speaking, all web browsers use "cookies" or small files when we browse the web. Some of these cookies are called "trackers", which sends the information from the cookies across the web.

Safari has been using a "track-blocking software" that denies the information collected by the cookies to be sent.

Microsoft has been aware of the bypassing, but has focused on other things instead of improving IE's privacy protection. Just look at Microsoft's patches and service packs ... most of them are hotfixes for a wide array of vunerabilities.

Apple, on the other hand, has been actively improving their systems and security.

“Now they complain after Google uses it.”

This is how Google proclaims its innocence?

Elvensilvan: No offence, but you also need to understand what you are talking about, I hope you don't get paid for your IT skills? I would fire you if you said that in a meeting or to a client.

Cookies are suppose to store data that is what they were built for.

There are no such thing as a "tracking cookie" and a regular cookie, they are all cookies. If a cookie blocking software wants to block or delete certain cookies it is upto that software to detect which cookies to delete and which not to... it is not upto the company or site that makes the cookie to make sure that the blocking software can block their cookies.

Microsoft is accusing Google of putting profit ahead of privacy? How do you say "this is the pot calling the kettle black" in Japanese? 8-)

Yeah, there is no honor among thieves. I'm sure Microsoft would be willing to profit from gaming the Safari privacy settings if they thought of it first. But, since they didn't, better to take the high road and pillory Google. Of course Google deserves the grief.

Everybody should join the EFF and see more of what is going on. You would be amazed at how much of your personal data is available to anybody who wants to buy a database. And, since it's easy to set up a sham company to front as a legit business it's very simple to do. Everybody has their fingers in this pie.

So out of curiosity i search a product,then as i'm going from place to place online i'm getting ads for it,like i'm being followed? too bad, I Never buy Online,I want to pay in person & deal in person.as for personal info i'm sure i'm on "The List" somewhere sooo #@$!'EM!

So essentially google's response was "you guys do it too, so why are you jumping on us for doing it?" ha.

gelendestrasse: Yeah, there is no honor among thieves. I'm sure Microsoft would be willing to profit from gaming the Safari privacy settings if they thought of it first.

How true!

Everybody should join the EFF and see more of what is going on.

Well the EFF is no group of angels either. They fight against court cases that try to outlaw cyber-stalking and that's inexcusable.

@gogogo

I would like you to reconsider firing me for these grounds:

A persistent cookie will outlast user sessions. If a persistent cookie has its Max-Age set to 1 year, then, within the year, the initial value set in that cookie would be sent back to the server every time the user visited the server. This could be used to record a vital piece of information such as how the user initially came to this website. For this reason, persistent cookies are also called tracking cookies.

Tracking cookies may be used to track internet users' web browsing habits. The cookie will be automatically sent by the browser to the server every time a new page from the site is requested; the server sends the page as usual, but also stores the URL of the requested page, the date/time of the request, and the cookie in a log file.

By looking at the log file, it is then possible to find out which pages the user has visited and in what sequence.

As an example, if you visit www.example1.com, which sets a cookie with the domain ad.foxytracking.com. When the user later visits www.example2.com, another cookie is set with the domain ad.foxytracking.com. Eventually, both of these cookies will be sent to the advertiser when loading their ads or visiting their website. The advertiser can then use these cookies to build up a browsing history of the user across all the websites this advertiser has footprints on.

A persistent cookie will outlast user sessions. If a persistent cookie has its Max-Age set to 1 year, then, within the year, the initial value set in that cookie would be sent back to the server every time the user visited the server. This could be used to record a vital piece of information such as how the user initially came to this website. For this reason, persistent cookies are also called tracking cookies.

A "persistent" cookie is not a "tracking cookie", a persistent cookie is a cookie that has an expire time value added to it... exactly the same way as "remember me" on any site with a login works... it uses a cookie with a time value. A persistent cookie can use used to determine what sites people have visited or store search data or ID numbers which could be analysed and used to track a user but a persistent cookie can be used for hundreds of other valuable things.