Incorrect whitelist in EasyPrivacy

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barbaz
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Incorrect whitelist in EasyPrivacy

Post by barbaz »

Was checking blockable items on a YouTube video page, and I noticed the following whitelist from EasyPrivacy active:

Code: Select all

@@||s.youtube.com/api/stats/playback?$object-subrequest
Disabling it does not affect the video or video page at all.
So after some investigation, seems it was added in https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/c5aca9492d88 to unblock "history" - which I really do NOT want, and have had custom filters to block. In any case, I believe that is exactly the sort of thing EasyPrivacy should be *blocking*.
I can just disable that whitelist on my Gecko based browsers, but it's not possible to disable individual filters in Chromium which I use as well.

I feel somewhat betrayed by this - I thought EasyPrivacy was supposed to block *all* tracking of a user's trail around a website, but as this example shows, apparently it *whitelists* some such tracking even if it's not needed to make a site work. :surprised: :cry:

Please, remove this whitelist and any others added for similar purpose, to stop giving EasyPrivacy users a false sense of privacy, as a false sense of privacy is worse than no sense of privacy at all.
Thanks
barbaz
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Post by barbaz »

Since I haven't gotten a response yet, I'd like to point out how that whitelist actually violates documented EasyPrivacy policy:

Here's an actual example of the item's address:

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https://s.youtube.com/api/stats/playback?hl=<xxx>&cos=X11&rtn=9&el=detailpage&ver=2&cr=US&vis=0&c=WEB&cpn=UspX7jAuKfqE85N0&lact=0&ei=Bj1FVMudNdfXrAa30YDwCQ&volume=100&cver=as3&cbr=Firefox&mos=0&of=Bj4eu-sXTVOOofiPVEsshA&len=459.313&fmt=134&cbrver=24.0&fexp=927622,930666,930672,931983,932404,934030,941289,946013,947209,947225,952302,952901&cmt=0.132&plid=AAUF3X50L0l3zSv4&ns=yt&rt=0.666&docid=tO_Qmip6Fb4
Note "cos=X11", "cbr=Firefox", and "cbrver=24.0", and the following point from https://easylist.adblockplus.org/blog/2 ... y-tracking:
https://easylist.adblockplus.org/blog/2011/08/31/what-is-acceptable-first-party-tracking wrote:IP address and user agent

Although this information is recorded in system logs, the details make users identifiable, making this information personal. I would therefore suggest that EasyPrivacy should continue to regard the first-party collection of such data as unacceptable and prevent it being sent to any additional systems on the domain wherever possible.
Also, as this item is being requested by Flash:
https://easylist.adblockplus.org/blog/2011/08/31/what-is-acceptable-first-party-tracking wrote:Object tracking (e.g. using Flash or Java to track users)

In the vast majority of instances objects are unnecessary alternatives to other methods of tracking, such as JavaScript. Furthermore, these objects can set cookies that cannot be easily controlled by the browser. I would therefore regard the collection of information using plug-ins as unacceptable in practically all circumstances.
So it's not just my opinion that this clearly should be blocked by EasyPrivacy.
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