demagogue on 30/3/2017 at 09:05
Close enough. Some militaries, spies, and other groups that need secrecy I've read are using old analog techniques. So the point has a logic to it too.
This law is still hyena shit.
I guess you've all seen the GoFundMe pages going up to buy the browser history of every congressperson that voted for this. Nice to see they didn't waste time having that idea.
chk772 on 30/3/2017 at 12:04
How are they even able to assess the browser history? I was under the impression that that is something which is saved locally on your computer... or do i understand something wrong here? At least that's how it has been reported here in Germany, that they access the browser history. I wonder how that is possible, and even more so, because we have different browsers, which probably also handle browsing history differently.
And what i read on the net so far, always mentions "browsing history", yet, German newspapers wrote about "browser history". Typical case of misinformations by laymen?
icemann on 30/3/2017 at 13:23
It's more that there is info on the ISPs end when you go to websites. The geodata as they call it. Normally it's not saved, but laws like these would make it so they would have to, which in doing so will tell police, authorities etc exactly where you've been going.
chk772 on 30/3/2017 at 13:37
Yep. Well, it's typical for german media, and journalists. No idea, and always try to cause more panic, and exaggerate things. Not that i find it cool that ISP's can sell that data in the U.S. now.
BTW, i'm a strong supporter of gathering data to help authorities to act against serious crime, or terror, on the other hand. There shouldn't be tied hands in that regard.
Sulphur on 30/3/2017 at 13:59
Er, it's not an exaggeration. Browsers save your browsing history, but like Yakoob mentioned in the OP, ISPs can see everything you do because they're the ones ferrying the data back and forth. A basic IP log is not a difficult thing for an ISP to maintain for any length of time based on what they want to do with that information (or have to in case of local laws), and even if they didn't, there's some amount of data that can be scraped from DNS logs because you invoke a hierachical resolver on a (typically their own) DNS server every time you enter an internet address on your browser.
heywood on 30/3/2017 at 14:15
There are multiple ways that different companies collect your browsing history. The most relevant one for this conversation is that every network packet to or from your browser is routed through your ISP, and your ISP is free to collect whatever traffic or traffic statistics they wish. If you have a secure session (https), then they're not going to know the content going back and forth, but they will know the site you're visiting and the URL. No browser privacy features are going to get around that. The only way to prevent your ISP from knowing your browsing history is to use an anonymous proxy, and if net neutrality regulation gets rolled back then they will also be free to block you from using anonymous proxies.
Another method of collecting your browsing history is through anti-phishing/anti-malware filtering. All of the major browsers send the URL you're visiting to their servers in order to check it against a site black list. Supposedly this is a list of phishing sites and sites known to be infected with malware, so the feature is "for your protection". But it also allows them to track your browsing history. The same filters can also be used to keep you off of sites they (whoever 'they' is) don't want you visiting, but I don't know how prevalent that is.
Also, pretty much every site on the web has advertising/analytics trackers embedded into them. Google Analytics, Facebook, Doubleclick, etc. follow you from site to site all over the web. You can limit this to a certain degree by using browser tracking protection/private browsing features, ad blockers, and firewall rules.
chk772 on 30/3/2017 at 15:03
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Er, it's not an exaggeration. Browsers save your browsing history, but like Yakoob mentioned in the OP, ISPs can see everything you do because they're the ones ferrying the data back and forth.
Well, they wrote in german newspapers that the browser history will be sold. Which is wrong. It is the brow
sing history, saved by the provider. So, ya, typically press crap.
Sulphur on 30/3/2017 at 15:30
I've forgotten most of my German, so I'm assuming semantic confusion stands out more with how German nouns work, because most people don't conflate this with incompetence in English. It's usually a tacit assumption that something as trivial as what browser you use is obviously not the smoking gun in this context.
chk772 on 30/3/2017 at 15:57
Well, i expect to read the truth. Unfortunately, in the least cases i really read the truth. Be it incompetence of the journalists, not being able to research correctly, and, especially, with the necessary time available. And, especially in this case, a journalist should be able to know the difference between the browser history, and the browsing history saved by the provider. Actually, i wouldn't even wonder about ill intent, to make people think they have something like a torjan horse on their computers, or similar. Especially in the case of Trump, there's so much BS flying around, you wouldn't believe it, if you weren't in the U.S. but somewhere in Europe, or, especially, in Germany.
Anyway, back to topic.
Pyrian on 30/3/2017 at 16:40
Quote Posted by chk772
And, especially in this case, a journalist should be able to know the difference between the browser history, and the browsing history saved by the provider.
Maybe, but they
should know
and consult someone who can elucidate the technical details.
