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Ask HN: Could fake web browsing fool web tracking?

6 pointsby f055almost 5 years ago
I was wondering: so far, most of the efforts to fight tracking on the web focus on blocking: removing scripts, hiding IPs, cleaning cookies. What if the approach was opposite? What if instead of ad blockers and vpns we used fake traffic generators?<p>For example, to handle Google tracking, use a browser extension that visits different random sites in short, random intervals, 24&#x2F;7. To handle Facebook and Twitter, use a browser extension that randomly likes, unlikes, shares and unshares stuff.<p>Create a chaotic pattern of web activity sent to tracking systems. If enough people use it, they could all appear so similar to each other that targeting specific ad groups becomes impossible. Additionally, this could strain the tracking systems and make them more costly to operate, instead of giving them unintentional optimisation with the blocking approach.<p>Would this work?

1 comment

ryankrage77almost 5 years ago
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;makeinternetnoise.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;makeinternetnoise.com&#x2F;</a> is an example of this idea.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jankais3r&#x2F;DNoiSe" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jankais3r&#x2F;DNoiSe</a> does the same, but for DNS.