undefined | Better HN

0 pointssupriyo-biswas3y ago0 comments

The fly in the ointment with this theory is why Apple (or even Mozilla) would expose the same kind of information. Apple has only recently started experimenting with ads, and their ads are limited to the apps that they control.

The more benign explanation would be to allow developers to work around device-specific or browser-specific bugs.

(I'm aware Apple changes the GPU Model to "Apple GPU", however they do expose a ton of other properties that make it possible to fingerprint a device.)

0 comments

jakear3y ago

Apple devices are in fact fairly difficult to fingerprint. In my experiments [1] all instances of the same hardware model (on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS) give the same fingerprint, so the best a tracker can get is "uses iPhone 14". Better than nothing, but not terribly unique.

[1] fingrprintr.pages.dev

2 more replies

camyule3y ago

Firefox do have a mechanism to limit the amount of data being leaked for fingerprinting, but it’s disabled by default: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-protection-agai...

philliphaydon3y ago

Wow I just realised I’ve had this enabled for… since I first remember the feature announced, and the internet hasn’t broken.

cmeacham983y ago

They're not that big of a deal, but my two biggest annoyances with RFP:

1. prefers-color-scheme is completely broken, even in the dev tools. Mozilla refuses to fix this in any way, it is allegedly "by design" that you have to disable all RFP protection if you're a web dev and need to test the dark color scheme of your website.

2. Similarly, RFP always vends your timezone as UTC with no way to change.

2 more replies

threatofrain3y ago

Continuing the push the browser to be a general app platform is the only way it can survive against native experience, which is already eating into the enthusiasm for the web. It seems like the trend for consumer companies is to maybe launch first on the web for velocity but eventually migrate to native experiences.

I wonder to what degree we can enable hardware performance without leaking user data.

RobotToaster3y ago

Isn't Mozilla's main source of income from Google?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointssupriyo-biswas3y ago0 comments

The more benign explanation would be to allow developers to work around device-specific or browser-specific bugs.

(I'm aware Apple changes the GPU Model to "Apple GPU", however they do expose a ton of other properties that make it possible to fingerprint a device.)

0 comments

jakear3y ago

[1] fingrprintr.pages.dev

2 more replies

camyule3y ago

Firefox do have a mechanism to limit the amount of data being leaked for fingerprinting, but it’s disabled by default: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-protection-agai...

philliphaydon3y ago

Wow I just realised I’ve had this enabled for… since I first remember the feature announced, and the internet hasn’t broken.

cmeacham983y ago

They're not that big of a deal, but my two biggest annoyances with RFP:

2. Similarly, RFP always vends your timezone as UTC with no way to change.

2 more replies

threatofrain3y ago

I wonder to what degree we can enable hardware performance without leaking user data.

RobotToaster3y ago

Isn't Mozilla's main source of income from Google?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse