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Comment by zagrebian | Hacker News Reader

> google's server and loads their JS which fingerprints your browser they have your device logged

This is a big claim. Do Google’s ad-serving scripts really engage in fingerprinting? If yes, then there should be proof. Is there proof? I don’t think it’s possible for Google to do this covertly using JavaScript, so either Google does this and we have proof, or Google doesn’t do this.

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Who knows what Google is collecting internally (especially with analytics). We'd need a whistleblower to tell us, so let's just pretend Google isn't fingerprinting devices or collecting device IDs. That still leaves them with your IP address, timestamps, and a list of the websites you visited. Does that make you feel better?

Your claim was about fingerprinting via Google’s scripts on other websites. Such a thing cannot be concealed. JavaScript code is visible. Even if the code is obfuscated, experts can still detect if fingerprinting is performed.

Maybe it's changed since it's been a long time since I blocked all that stuff entirely, but I thought the idea was that websites collected a bunch of data about you, your browser, and your activities (using JS) which all gets sent back to google. Google processes that data and delivers analytics reporting back to the website owners. If google were also using the data they collected to generate a device fingerprint to compare against data collected and reported at other sites you would never know. That'd be in addition to them logging the sites you visited and when as well as your IP address and user agent which they get just by remotely hosting those scripts.

Google Analytics does not collect any information that could identify the user.

Your IP address and a timestamp are enough to give google a pretty good idea who you are in many cases. If you log into any one of their services or use one of their products using that same IP address it's a pretty strong indicator. It takes surprisingly little "non-identifiable information" to figure out someone's identify. (for example: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10933-3)

I'm pretty sure google has enough data to put 1 and 1 together the vast majority of the time.

That’s another big claim. If Google did this covertly, and it was found out, Google’s reputation would be in the toilet. That’s why I think they don’t do it.

I don't think companies care about their reputation at all. Fear for their reputation didn't stop DuPont from knowingly poisoning people. It didn't stop Gerber from selling baby food loaded with dangerous levels of lead and other heavy metals.

Wasn't google caught illegally collecting hundreds of gigabytes of data from wifi networks already? They don't care.

EDIT:

Yep https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/

Also https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-leads-bipartisan-coalit...

If you're counting on fear of possible embarrassment or bad press to keep companies honest you're in for a bad time. Legal or not, if something will make a company money, they will do that thing.

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