[clug] Private Browsing?

Bob Edwards bob at cs.anu.edu.au
Mon Jun 24 00:16:36 UTC 2019


On 24/6/19 9:21 am, Eyal Lebedinsky via linux wrote:
> Something I notice when using firefox (FF) is that some sites remember 
> me or my history,
> and FF seems to be aiding this. I want to understand what is going on.
> 
> For example, I go to ebay, browse some items, and a panel shows "Your 
> Recently Viewed Items".
> I close that tab and open one again and it still remembers this (never 
> logged in). OK.
> 
> I now start ff, then add a Private Browsing (PB) window and open ebay, 
> browse items in a few tabs,
> close the ebay tabs (PB window left open) and clear data and history 
> (via preferences, showing zero
> cookies, data and cache).
>   -> A new ebay tab still shows the history.
> 
> I now close the PB window (FF still running) and open a new PB window.
>   -> A new ebay tab does not show the history.
> 
> It seems that what I do with FF allows the site to remember or forget my 
> browsing, regardless of
> clearing history/data. What else can I clear?
> 
> My question is: where/how is this history kept?
> 
> TIA
> 

Hi Eyal,

There are lots of ways the sites have of tracking you, cookies or not.

TOR browser goes a long way towards protecting your privacy, but even
it has subtle issues that can be used to track you (usually social-
engineering related).

The EFF site: https://panopticlick.eff.org sheds some light on all this.

cheers,
Bob Edwards.



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