Firefox 102.0 released

Posted Jun 28, 2022 15:31 UTC (Tue) by wtarreau (subscriber, #51152)
Parent article: Firefox 102.0 released

I must say I don't much like it when browsers start to interfere with deployed applications by deciding that this or that URL parameter necessarily is one used for tracking. If you developed your little application a while ago using one of these parameters for a completely different purpose you might not find it cool to see that it now breaks because *some* parameters are considered evil. Going down that route might end up forcing applications to regularly consult the new block list of the week to figure how to name their parameters.

Browsers used to complain about middleboxes breaking apps by doing non-compliant operations but they're starting to do the same in turn. And these will be trivial to bypass for trackers, they'll just rename them.

I would have thought that adding a small but annoying delay for each suspicious parameter could be way more efficient, because users don't like to wait, and that wouldn't break legitimate applications. Better, those having these links would quickly fix them when seeing a counter appear "link has a parameter looking like a tracker, click to abort 4 3 2 1 0".

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 28, 2022 15:46 UTC (Tue) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (8 responses)

The thing that bugs me, instead, is that it's a denylist that is easily worked around by just changing the name of the tracking parameter. That seems certain to lead to a whack-a-mole game that the tracking industry can play forever.

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 28, 2022 16:23 UTC (Tue) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link]

Most adblocking is the same way. We've been living in this situation for many years without the ads/tracking acting likes moles that widely and quickly circumvent the blocks, so it doesn't bother me. Obviously a big factor is that most people don't use adblockers and most people don't use Firefox.

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 28, 2022 16:39 UTC (Tue) by scientes (guest, #83068) [Link] (3 responses)

Is calling many non-industrial things industries like having government "wage war" on social problems like poverty and drugs?

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 29, 2022 4:43 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link] (2 responses)

The English language, and most other languages, have this interesting concept called a "metaphor". "Wage war on poverty" is a metaphor. The English language also evolves. At this point, the use of "industry" to mean "business sector" (that may or may not involve manufacturing physical goods) is widespread enough that it is no longer a metaphor, it is an accepted meaning of the word.

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 29, 2022 4:56 UTC (Wed) by oldtomas (guest, #72579) [Link]

Show me your metaphors and I'll show you your agenda ;-)

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 29, 2022 10:58 UTC (Wed) by nye (subscriber, #51576) [Link]

> At this point, the use of "industry" to mean "business sector" (that may or may not involve manufacturing physical goods) is widespread enough that it is no longer a metaphor, it is an accepted meaning of the word.

For the entire history of the word going back over two milllenia to the Latin "industria", it has mostly *not* been about manufacturing.

> Industry. 1477. [a. F. /industrie/, or ad. L. /industria/ diligence]
> 1. Intelligent or clever working; skill, ingenuity, dexterity -1613
> 2. A device, contrivance; a crafty expedient -1621
> 3. Diligence or assiduity in any task or effort; close and steady application to the business in hand 1531
> 4. Systematic work or labour; habitual employment, now esp. in the productive arts or manufactures 1611
> 5. A particular branch of productive labour; a trade or manufacture 1566

So you need to go down to sense 4 before there's even a hint of implication that it involves manufacturing physical goods.

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 28, 2022 17:53 UTC (Tue) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link] (2 responses)

Taken to its logical extreme, the tracker could just generate a random parameter name each time but have the payload recognizable through some other means (eg, it's signed, or it has a specific preamble.)

The only good thing is that a lot of infrastructure probably depends on parameter names like fbclid, etc. so changing all of that will be painful for trackers.

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 28, 2022 19:21 UTC (Tue) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (1 responses)

Stripping `utm*` fields and cookies would also be useful, but I suspect that would mess with marketing too much.

Tracker parameters

Posted Jun 28, 2022 19:58 UTC (Tue) by flussence (guest, #85566) [Link]

Yeah, I'm a bit annoyed they're releasing this with zero overlap with the old UTM-Mangler addon. I notice far more of those links in the wild than any of these.