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Comment by worldsavior | Hacker News Reader

> But loading ad's are the much greater security issue.

How so? You're just retrieving the data and displaying it.

> And if you care about "uniqueness" you have that already with your IP

There are many ISP's that use NAT to save IP addresses, hence an IP is not really an identifier. Even if not, an IP is identifieing the all network, and all the ones that are connected to the same network. You can see how in YouTube (incognito mode) you will always get personalized videos based on your IP approximate geolocation (usually just the state) if it's your first time.

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>How so? You're just retrieving the data and displaying it.

Yeah displaying data...that cant be dangerous ;)

>There are many ISP's that use NAT to save IP addresses, hence an IP is not really an identifier.

Do you really think your argumentation is good?

> Yeah displaying data...that cant be dangerous ;)

It's not dangerous because it's coming from a good source, such as google ads.

> Do you really think your argumentation is good?

Yes, because that's what happens. I don't really think an IP is a good identifier because it's shared by others. Using cookies is a much better option.

Happy for you that:

1. You trust every ad comes from "google"

2. You think ~everyone/most have ISP-NAT (hint nearly ~no one has it and IPv6 is a thing too (hint 2. those are 38% worldwide))

But you care about uniqueness because of ad-blockers who are used by ~40% of all users, but a IP is "not" unique, nor the browser, OS, resolution and GPU and the combination of all those factors, but NONO the Adblocker is the problem.

The success rate of the algorithm is important. The average person doesn't want to see someone's else ads just because they're in the same network. No one wants to see their kid Minecraft ads.

IP are also constantly changing, at least once a month. For sure, they can't rely on one identifier, which is the IP address, because after it changes, all of the data is gone.

Also, you say things I didn't say. I said THE IP is not a really good identifier, but you also say I meant also other identifiers.

The IP can't survive on its own. The algorithm needs more than just one thing. It needs multiple things while if one is not applicable then we get another one.

An ad blocker already eliminates you to 40% of the internet users, which is a lot.

>IP are also constantly changing, at least once a month.

I don't know from where you have that one sided information (maybe you life in a bubble), but my IP changes never until i leave the router powerless for more then 12 hours.

>An ad blocker already eliminates you to 40% of the internet users, which is a lot.

No it's not, but your screen-resolution combined with GPU combined with OS combined with Browser(Version) combined with Cam/Mic combined with ~location is.

> I don't know from where you have that one sided information (maybe you life in a bubble)

I guess it's company dependent.

> No it's not, but your screen-resolution combined with GPU combined with OS combined with Browser(Version) combined with Cam/Mic combined with ~location is.

You said it yourself. 40% of all users use an ad blocker, hence when you use one, the website will know, and you're part of them.

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