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What is the point of all the information given out by your browser? (literature.cafe)

submitted 22 hours ago by NannerBanner@literature.cafe to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So the other day someone linked to a website that highlighted how much information is just gifted to any place you visit on the web.

I'm aware of some of it being intrinsic to the manner of connection. A website knowing your IP (even if that is the IP of the vpn or tor exit node you're using) is basically essential to the function of the internet. Why everything else though? What fucking idiot/asshole decided to even have an api for your gpu? Why the fuck is my browser reporting on the battery status? Light/dark mode? Visibility (whether or not the tab is 'active', the fuck?!? My OS?!!???!?!!!?!?!?

As a side question, why is the capability built in by a browser, but the user is never given a choice about whether or not any of this is shared?

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[–] schwim@piefed.zip 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I'm surprised many of these aren't obvious to you.

tab is 'active', the fuck?!?
A website serving a video will need to know if you're actually watching so it can stop playback or if background playback is desired, they know they can lower the quality of the video being delivered to save bandwidth.

Light/dark mode?
Sites are often designed to align with the light/dark theme set in the browser or OS.

battery status?
Less demanding objects are often delivered to visitors with low battery.

gpu
Some objects being delivered benefit from knowing which drivers/GPU they need to be compatible with.

etc. etc.

The creators of a browser doesn't benefit from providing this information. It's all stuff that can sometimes result in a better browsing experience and since the browser doesn't know which sites would, it provides the information for every page load in the handshake.

If you don't like it, use a privacy-focused browser or an extension to randomize the data.

[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Less demanding objects are often delivered to visitors with low battery

This one still pisses me off! Just because my batt is charged, does not mean they are to waste it!

[–] dangling_cat@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 21 hours ago

As a web dev I’ve never seen a single website do that.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

It's not wasting it, the low power mode is probably a worse / degraded experience. Think like serving up a lower resolution video or song rather than a high quality one.

[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I've been on websites .... i'd rather have my battery charged than their 'improved' experience. For 99.9% it's all about form over function.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

You can probably find a config setting or browser extension or dev tools way of forcing the browser to always report low battery... Thought probably not in iOS given their mandate for safari.