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Researchers say they can spy on your browsing by measuring SSD activity through a browser API
(www.tomshardware.com)
this post was submitted on 28 May 2026
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Technology
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I wonder if, at any point, anyone stopped to ask themselves, "did I really go to school just so I can ply my knowledge and expertise to find even more ways to fucking track people who expressly don't want to be tracked so we can use the data for ad revenue (if not for other, even worse things)"?
software dev here.
I worked with a guy who was implementing application monitoring for clientside applications. think of it like google analytics for single page apps. he proposed we could require users install a browser plugin to make it easier to track and monitor the users on our app with the added benefit we could track them on other websites like our competition.
one person in a room of about 11 people spoke up about the implications of privacy and the backlash we might have from our user base when they find out that we basically just installed a keylogger in their browser.
the only thing that stopped this plan from going forward was the risk of losing users and potential revenue loss.
my point in all this is to answer your question. no, most people have stopped thinking about their actions and are just creating "solutions" to problems that don't exist.
Hey I’ve been in that room! I don’t get it, I can’t live with that for of thing. And this is why I only have like 2 or 3 extensions (all ad blockers).
Execs love this shit. I only had one exec who pushed not to do that or open Pandora’s box.
He made a ton of cash, cashed out, and retired at 30 something. Awesome dude, I miss working under him.
Out of curiosity, why 2-3 different ad blockers?
I have similar.
and have pihole on my network.
They often do different things.
Privacy badger, ublock, https everywhere are just required tools.
It's wild how quickly morality falls to the wayside (and is subsequently paved over). Especially crazy to abandon one's moral standing early on the path of solving problems that don't exist to appease people who don't care for a chance at the advancement of a career that you can't take with you in a field that could be wiped out by a solar flare, all to end up making the world a worse place for subsequent generations (I'm not a bleeding-heart idealist, lol).
I often think about a few people I know who have psych degrees. All were told, in different years, that if they wanted to make money as a psychologist, they needed to get in with tech companies. Some even got job offers.
I studied data mining (now machine learning) and statistics.
I’ve spent my career explicitly NOT plying my knowledge this way. I don’t know how people do it.
I’d say my deep knowledge on how to track people has made me pretty averse to a lot of online things.
You know you can build marketing attribution systems and advertising metrics without violating user privacy.
But advertisers really like the idea of invading privacy and they pay out the nose for it.
Good on you. Few are willing to take the overgrown path. And, funny how people who work with the subject matter often avoid it- the cybersecurity guy who doesn't own a computer, the guy who services food processing equipment who refuses to buy premade food, the guy who works/ed for the DoD who doesn't own a phone, etc.
Would you mind sharing some of the online things you're averse to, besides all that is implied by being on the Fediverse? I'm still new to this stuff.
I work IT adjacent in physical security systems (cameras, access control, intrusion systems etc.). Everyone looks confused when they ask what I have at home or what they should install and I tell them fuck all of this surveillance state/must know every time someone thinks about my house bullshit. I push back on a lot of corporate garbage as well and I'm lucky enough to work off a company that listens and balances security with privacy when I steer us that way.
I think this is pretty common in tech fields.
I've got the same thing. I had someone ask me what I do for backups and they thought I was joking when I told them I have a good printer. They couldn't get their head around the idea that I don't even have a home network to attach a NAS to, and thought I was just being condescending. I had a similar conversation when asked how to secure an Alexa.
Just things that can be correlated. Time, device, network, accounts, and apps all correlate. Precise location, device sensors, etc also correlate.
You have to decide what you want security or privacy against, then you have to be mindful always.
Every internet connection is a fingerprint.
E.g. The second you use that device on an VPN all your apps phoning home, checking notifications, logging events, etc. collapse your profile and deanonymize your anonymous activity.
So I actually use a dedicated device for anything I want a VPN on.
Opsec almost requires that you need a public device for your regular use, and a secondary device with limited scope, third party OS for higher privacy for anything you actually don’t want to share.
It’s safer to tunnel specific whitelisted connections through a VPN than whole device VPN for that reason (the less traffic goes to VPN the better). iOS VPN doesn’t work for that reason.
If you want VPN security, the best way is to run a container with only VPN networking, then a second container with the service you want protected and route all networking through the VPN container.
Also, say no to Chrome based apps looking for devices on your network. That uniquely fingerprints you across tons of surfaces.
They say it’s for chrome cast or something but it’s too much info to share.
That's really great, thank you. I've got a working knowledge of applying opsec and related principles, but my understanding quickly drops off when we get into the why. That's super helpful.
It is really hard to sort through job listings using ethics as your criteria.
Bet